Eternal Wind
by Ssomsie
Summary: Even after Maron helped Fin, her battles weren't over yet. The Battle at the Ice Castle was only the beginning. The demons that were still on Earth are now coming after Maron with everything they’ve got. Maron must be stronger than ever, or else.CxM AxF
1. Believe

**Title: **Eternal Wind  
**Series:** Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne  
**Rating:** T (rated for safety)  
**By:** MewSsomsie  
**Beta-ed By:** Argent-Allure  
**Summary: **"Even after Maron helped Fin, her battles weren't over yet. The 'Final Battle at the Ice Castle' was only the beginning. The demons that were still on Earth are now coming after Maron with everything they've got. Maron must now be stronger than ever, or else everything she does will be in vain, and everyone she loves will be in danger."

**AN:** Hello! This is my first Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne fanfic, and hopefully not my last! I have only seen the anime, so this fanfic is based directly after the anime. Also, sorry for the first chapter's short length. But all prologue's are short, aren't they?

**I will be updating this story weekly (or close to it).**

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne. Nope, not even gonna put a corny pun in to make it funny.  
**Chapter:** 1 – "Believe" –Prologue--

* * *

"_You're such a liar, Maron. You said you couldn't cry anymore," said my cute little squeaky-voiced angel, Fin, when she herself was crying tears of happiness._

"_You too, Fin," I replied, fully aware of the tears streaming down my face._

_Access flew over and hugged Fin; he didn't exactly appreciate the "reward" he was given this time though- a rather painful punch to the face. I mean that's not to say that he wasn't rewarded later. After all, Fin did say thank you after a moment, much to the joy of Access's ego._

_After witnessing our angelic friends "embrace," Chiaki and I smiled at each other as we started to walk back down the road towards the town, where Miyako was._

"Miyako, we're back," I said as my best friend almost strangled me.

"You idiot. You had me worried," she reprimanded, still crying slightly and refusing to let go.

Feeling the ground beneath our feet begin to rumble, Chiaki yelled out at us. "Maron, we need to get out. This place is about to collapse!"

"Right," I replied. We ran, well, it was actually more like Chiaki running with me as I was pulling Miyako up and Access and Fin flying above overhead as we crossed the ice bridge over to safety. We somehow managed to make it outside seconds before the whole castle collapsed behind us.

"Is this what it felt like when the police chased you?" Miyako asked, panting as we watched the castle crumble.

"No, not quite," I answered, before Chiaki could let out another shocking secret. After all, Miyako still didn't know about Chiaki being Sinbad, and although it probably wouldn't be a shock for her now, I wanted to let this information sink in first.

"You're not coming to school tomorrow, are you, Maron?" Chiaki asked, his cocky ever-present smile on his face.

"Probably not, but you're not one to talk either," I retorted, irritated with his constant arrogance.

Seeing that I wasn't in any mood to humor his immature teasing, Chiaki decided to move his attention elsewhere. "Hey Access! Gonna take a nap?" Chiaki asked.

"Access? There's someone else here besides the three of us?" Miyako asked while looking around.

"I forget some times," Chiaki began, "that not everyone can see them," he finished, giving me a small smile.

"You can? Geez, I couldn't if I tried," I responded playfully.

"What are you the two of you talking about?" Miyako asked, still looking around confused.

"Oh, just about Access Time," Chiaki finished, now satisfied in having someone else to aggravate, as Fin was asleep on my shoulder and Access was on Chiaki's head snoring.

"I'm gonna have to tease him when he wakes up, you know that right, Maron?" Chiaki asked.

"He fought very hard, so you should at least try to be nice to him every blue moon," I responded haughtily still walking when it hit me. "Oops," I uttered, placing my hand over my mouth.

"What?" I heard Miyako ask as Chiaki just shook his head.

"Finally realized?" He asked, cocky grin and all.

"Shut up," I responded, and then added, more to Miyako than to Chiaki, "I'll be right back. Wait for me!" I darted into a tree as Jeanne and came back as Maron again. "Now we can leave," I said smiling. Chiaki rolled his eyes again and Miyako looked shocked, as if she knew and yet at the same time couldn't quite comprehend. I decided to walk home slowly, more for Chiaki's sake than for my own, as he couldn't run even if he wanted to.

"What's for dinner?" Chiaki asked before adding, "Because surely you're not making me cook after all I went through for you today."

I rolled my eyes. "Yes, I'll cook, you lazy bum," I said.

After a long period of silence, Miyako said, "No one told me who 'Access Time' is yet."

Looking a certain blue haired boy in the eyes, I replied. "I'd rather not talk about it here. Why don't you eat dinner with Chiaki and me, and then spend the night at my apartment tonight. I think I should be able to cover just about everything that I know with you, just not here. Of course, I want someone else to help explain their side of the story too."

"Yeah, yeah. I gotcha," Chiaki responded.

"That's good; my parents have probably eaten by now," Miyako said.

At the mention of the word "parents" I looked down and asked Chiaki, "You think that they're okay now, right?"

That's when he walked over and gave me a short hug before replying, "Yes, I'm sure everything will be better."

"Thanks, Chiaki," I responded gratefully before walking again.

"Hey Maron, can we change? Access is getting heavy now," Chiaki said suddenly. I picked up on the invisible message that he was trying to send with it. He was trying to change the conversation.

"No, I happen to like having Fin on me, thank-you very much!" I said, turning around and looking at him.

"Well, I would like to experience what it feels like to not have a six pound weight on me all the time!" Chiaki replied with cockiness in his voice that was unable to reach to his eyes.

"And I would like to point out that the both of them are sleeping peacefully. Besides, Access is your problem, remember?" I retorted. In the corner of my eye I saw Miyako looking at us with a "what are they talking about" face on.

"Can't you walk any faster, Chiaki?" I asked, seeing as Miyako was getting impatient about being kept clueless.

"It depends, do you want me to be able to get out of bed the next day? You know that we're both gonna pay tomorrow, so I think I need to be able to get out of bed at least... maybe." He responded, though it did look like he sped up a little.

After we walked for another eight minutes or so, we reached our apartment complex. "Wanna take the elevator or stairs?" I asked, though I already knew the answer.

"You can run the stairs today. I'm taking the elevator," was the only response I got.

Miyako, who had been unusually, but understandably silent said, "I'm going to get my stuff then come over, okay?"

Sending a glare over in Chiaki's direction I said, "Sure, just don't take too long. I'll be able to cook the entire thing if you can keep all the food and snacks away from him. Every time he comes over, he and Access try and steal food from my kitchen, so I always have to play the 'food-keep-away' game with them both."

"It was one stupid time," I heard him mutter, and I'm positive he knew that I could hear it because he looked at me quickly afterwards.

"Yeah, yeah. One time per trip to my apartment?" I asked, where only he could hear it.

Before he could respond, Miyako shouted out to us. "Be there in a minute!"

Chiaki followed me into my apartment when I stated, "Chiaki, I don't want to tell her right now. Not about you being Sinbad. I think she would completely freak out right now. You think that you could wait a little while?" I asked.

I saw him try to hide a slight smile from me before he spoke. "Do you think it's wise to hide stuff? I've learned my lesson after what I went through with you. I won't tell if you don't want me to, but if it backfires it's all on you. Understand?"

"Yeah I gotcha, I just want to wait until tomorrow, you know? Let this information settle first." He nodded before I continued. "Now, why don't you go change clothes yourself? You look like you came out of a big fight or something," I responded, a small smile on my lips.

"Ha-ha. That's so funny I won't even comment about your hair right now," he responded playfully, his usual sarcastic tone in his voice.

I tried my best to blow the comment off because I knew he was just teasing me, but as soon as he left, I immediately ran to the bathroom to check. When I saw that I did indeed look fine, I took both of my hands and strongly beat them against one of the walls once. Of course, the wall just happened to be the one that connected to his apartment to mine.

He apparently had been expecting some sort of retaliation because he didn't come running over. I didn't bother to think about him coming through the balcony. After all, I thought he was just a little too sore to do that just yet.

I then heard a knock at my door. My guess was that it was Miyako, and I was right. She had a small duffel bag in her arms. "That was the quickest I have ever seen you pack," I said, looking at the small bag.

"Yeah. I had a motive today, I guess," she responded. She looked a little sad to me, then again she could have just been feeling lost and confused. I really didn't want her to be feeling either one, but I think the second choice would have been worse. Although I never liked seeing Miyako sad, I didn't want to even think about the latter. If she was in shock now, she might faint or something worse later.

Once she was inside I shut the door. I then heard the sliding glass-door open. "Why leave through the front door when you're just going to come back through the balcony?" I asked.

Miyako looked at me for a minute before another voice replied startling her, "Because you leave your balcony lock open and it takes too long for you to come open the door," a male voice replied. It was Chiaki yet again.

"Where did you put Access?" I asked, noticing that the purple-haired angel was missing.

"In his bed. Don't worry I left a note, Mother," he responded.

I was about to comment back when I took a deep breath and instead asked everyone, "What do you guys want for dinner?" Chiaki looked like he said about to give me another sarcastic remark when I looked at him with a "you really don't want to make that comment right now" type of look. I started going through my fridge as I told them, "I can either make a salad, call in a pizza, or make spaghetti."

"Pizza sounds good," Chiaki said, to which I corrected, "And a salad to you. You're injured too badly to eat unhealthy food."

"Then you get one too," he said indignantly.

"Nooo, I went through emotional trauma, not physical trauma. I should get chocolate instead of a salad," I responded. I'm almost positive that I heard a "yeah right" afterwards, but I ignored it.

"How about you, Miyako?" I asked to which she responded, "Pizza's fine." I then told them, "I'm going to put Fin to bed. Why don't you start your part of the story, Chiaki? Quit teasing her about Access and actually tell her who he is. He nodded as I got Fin's old teacup out, put a few pieces of candy in there, and walked away with her. I then put her in my room and came out to join the conversation.

"So, where are we at?" I asked.

"Still getting over angels," he responded.

"Access, hopefully?" I asked, trying to sound optimistic. I didn't really want Fin brought up too much.

I think that Chiaki saw that because he then asked, "How tall do you think Access is anyway? I'm guessing around seven inches or so myself."

"That sounds about right," I said in response.

"Angel?" I heard Miyako ask.

"Yep. We, we being Maron and I, have come across two angels. Fin Fish and Access Time. Maron can see them for obvious reasons, and I guess I'm just a defect. I see them too," he said, somehow still smiling and not acting affected at all.

"You're a defect, but not for those reasons," I told him. I caught a small smile play on his lips before I picked up the story from where he left off.

"Access came to Earth with Fin, but became separated for reasons that I would rather have Chiaki explain. Chiaki was walking around town for something, probably trying and failing to pick a girl up." At this point, I got me a look from a certain blue haired, beaten-up boy, but I continued anyway. After all, it **was** probably true. "From what Chiaki has told me, when he saw something floating, he ended up grabbing Access instead. Access then explained his story and Chiaki agreed to help him afterwards."

"What I didn't know at the time was that Chiaki already knew that I was Jeanne. That's why he moved in next door to me. He says he has changed his reason though I have to wonder sometimes." I received another glare from the tan and slightly muscular boy to the right of me when I ended my explanation with that last sentence. Miyako was to the left of me, looking like she was having trouble understanding it all. I could relate.

"Maron tried to hide it from everyone, but she still didn't know that I was already aware of her identity as Kaitou Jeanne. About the time I moved in was when Kaitou Sinbad showed up, right?" He asked, looking over at me for a fake confirmation, when we both already knew the answer to that question very well.

"Yeah, he was such a pain! He couldn't just be content with stealing **my** targets, oh no, he had to go and steal not only my first kiss, but my second one too! And then he said that he didn't care who or what was hurt in the process when he 'checkmated!' " I finished, out of breath. It was kind of funny actually, I knew that he couldn't respond with, "take that back," because that would expose his alter ego Sinbad.

Chiaki suddenly interrupted me shouting, "I thought I gave you your first kiss!"

At this I had to bite down on my tongue **very** hard to keep from shouting, "You did, you jerk! I **almost** lost a competition because you thought it would be funny to kiss me as Sinbad!" Instead, I swallowed very hard and said, "He had **no** business kissing me. I am still **very** mad at Sinbad for stealing my first two kisses!"

"Well, I've always **liked** Sinbad actually. Maybe he did that you make you shut up? I should try that sometime. Remind me to thank Kaitou Sinbad next time we see him, as he just gave me a very good idea. I even heard he saved you from being caught **and** from getting killed by demons. You were probably being a ditz or goofing off, " Chiaki responded. I had a frown now, since my advantage slipped.

"Still, he wasn't even an honorable thief! He knocked my pin out of the way when it was already in mid throw," I said.

"I'm sure he had an excellent reason," Chiaki countered, smiling at what he knew was victory for him.

"Yeah, yeah. Shut-up. You win," I said. "In fact, I'm going to take a bath and you can explain. After all, you're so smart and you know more than I do," I said smiling while walking to get a change of clothes.

"While we're waiting for the pizza to come?" He asked.

I stopped, not thinking about the pizza, and then replied, "Yeah, I'm going to take a short bath. More like a shower probably."

"Okay, hurry up then," he said, still smiling over his victory.

"Only if you wipe that smirk off your face," I replied then closed the door before he could respond.

I don't think that I was suppose to hear the comment, "She just has to have to last say." Then again, this was Chiaki that I was talking about. I mean he probably already knew already I was going to do that before the thought had even entered my head.

I turned the water on and waited for it to warm up. It felt so nice getting into the shower. It felt like I was washing away the past to look into the new, clean future… the new, clean me.

I got out about fifteen minutes later and put on a new set of clothes, though not my pajamas because Chiaki was there. No telling what kind of comments from him I would get if I came out in my pajamas.

I opened the door to blow-dry my hair and heard a little bit about the current conversation. I heard Miyako say something that I couldn't quite hear, but at least she was talking now. I knew the moment I transformed into Jeanne in front of her that nothing would be the same. Actually, I was expecting her to be in much worse condition. But still, it made me feel bad that she was devastated because of me.

I wondered if this was how Chiaki felt when I found out he was Sinbad. That whole time frame felt like a bad dream. If Miyako was able to move on, like I was eventually able to, then I think we – that is Chiaki, Miyako, and me, Maron- could have a very strong friend ship. Of course, Chiaki and I are "more than friends" I believe, but still. I want to be able to tell Miyako everything so that there won't be any "inside-jokes" or things she can't understand. The only thing that she can't do is see Access and Fin, but if that's it, then that would be the only thing separating her from Chiaki and me- besides the obvious fact that Chiaki and I were "dating" and that we were both kaitous of course. All in all, I thought that she would be okay.

"Maron! Pizza's here!" I heard Chiaki yell, which was impressive because the hairdryer was on and I was lost in thought.

"Coming!" I yelled. I went to my purse and pulled the required money out to pay when I saw that the pizza was on the table with the pizza man gone.

"I went ahead and paid," Chiaki said.

"I had the money ready," I explained to him, to which he replied, "I had the pocket money and you took too long. Come on, I'm hungry," He told me. I looked outside a window for a moment, noticing that it was dark outside.

"Geez, eating at 10? I haven't done this in a while," I responded. The three of us sat at my table and began to eat. I left out the fact that at the time I was either about to "checkmate" something or was aggravating Chiaki. Revenge was sweet, wasn't it?

"Maron, I'm going to bed after we eat. I might already know that I'm skipping tomorrow, but I'd rather get a good night of sleep too. I would advise you to do the same as I imagine that you're drained, whether you realize it or not," Chiaki advised.

"You sound like you've been through this personally," Miyako observed.

"It's what I'm going through now. Maron is going to have it worse though. It's probably a good thing that you're going to be here in the morning because personally, I'd be surprised if she got up. You might end up running errands for us when you get back from school—," Chiaki was explaining, but was cut off by Miyako.

"I'm not going tomorrow. I feel horrible about what I did today, so I want to help tomorrow when both of you really need it. I already told my parents that you both caught really bad colds and that I wanted to take care of you two. Dad wanted to argue, but Mom said that she understood," Miyako finished.

That was why she was quiet. She felt ashamed. I didn't know what else to do than to get up and hug her, telling her that it wasn't her fault. Chiaki even added, "I'm really not that bad off. I've done stuff like this for Maron many times before. This time I just have scratches where I usually have broken bones, but in no way is this your fault, Miyako. Maron is going to need you tomorrow, not me. I'm going to have Access bandage me and then I'll sleep like nothing's wrong and be sore in the morning. Nothing new, really," Chiaki said.

"Nothing new?" I asked, the cockiness finally getting to me because I was tired.

"You really want to bring that up? He responded.

"Just please go to bed and don't wake me up. I'm tired and I want to go to bed," I replied.

He nodded and kissed my cheek and said, "That's for earlier. Night ladies!" He said as he opened the sliding-glass door and jumped to his balcony.

"I'm surprised he can do that now, being as sore as he is," I said to no one in particular while shaking my head and smiling. I started to wrap the pizza up as there were only a few slices left, and I couldn't take another bite if I tried.

_Darn! I forgot to make a salad for Chiaki! I bet he knew too! Grr… He's in trouble now_, I thought to myself. I looked up at Miyako after the pizza was all put away and saw that she still seemed a bit depressed.

I wanted to let her know that I didn't blame her at all by consoling her. "Miyako, none of this is your fault at all. It's not Fin's fault, it's not your fault, it's not Chiaki's fault, and it's not my fault. The one at fault is the devil, no one else. Besides, I'm glad that I had the chance to do what I did. I actually never stole a single thing though, as crazy as that sounds. All that I was able to do was 'checkmate' stuff."

"Checkmate?" she asked. I smiled as she said, "I do remember Jeanne—I mean you, saying that a lot. Didn't Sinbad say that too?" she asked. Great, the one person I **didn't** want to bring up was now just brought up.

"Yeah, he did," I responded uneasily, while I was cleaning the table and washing dishes.

"Do you not like Sinbad? You seem to always frown when you talk about him," Miyako said.

"_Shoot!_" I thought to myself. "No, it's not that. Sinbad was almost killed on several occasions protecting me, and I'm very grateful. It's just that, well, it's hard to explain. Technically he _was_ my rival in the beginning, but as we saw each other more and more, he became more of an ally than a rival. I said a lot of mean things to him because I didn't know what he knew. Yet even when I said this stuff, he still protected me no matter what, even letting me 'checkmate' when he could have done it himself if he had chosen not to save me. He broke bones, was burned severely, and always had scratches when he left. I saved him a couple of times too, but not nearly as often as he saved me. It's kind of our inside joke that when one of us saves the other, the one who is saved says, 'I'm not going to say 'thank-you'," I said smiling as I remembered the joke taken place earlier today.

"Anyway, I'm going to bed now. If I stay up too much longer I won't be able to go to bed until around four a.m.," I then thought to myself, _because unfortunately, all those "thieving-sprees" I've gone on have trained me to stay alert for about five hours anytime I'm up past 11pm. The adrena,line just starts kicking in whether I want it to or not._ "Miyako, there's more things we have to talk about in the morning, but go to bed okay? Everything is okay now. At least I hope so," I told her, whispering the last sentence quietly to myself.

"Will Chiaki be okay?" Miyako asked.

"Of course! As he said, he's been beaten up pretty badly before and gone to school the next day. I'm sure that he just got Access to help him and is now already in bed. Snoring, probably. And Miyako, this probably goes without saying, but please don't mention to anyone that I was—am Jeanne. Also, when you find out who Sinbad is, please don't tell anyone about him either," I told her.

"Wait," Miyako said as I was walking to my bed. "You know who Sinbad really is?" She asked, as I stopped to listen to her.

"Yeah, that really big fight Chiaki and me had was mainly about him," I replied. I wanted to jump in bed and pretend to be fast asleep before the next question was asked because I knew what it was.

"Who is he?" she asked, as predicted.

Turning around I told her, "I don't want to tell you without talking to him first. It wouldn't be fair to him to tell you without his permission, after all. But, I don't think he'll mind. Who knows, there might even be a few easy clean-up jobs left where you can go with us." I smiled as I said the last sentence. Then I had to add (most likely from Chiaki's bad influence rubbing off on me), "You could be on the winning team for once, even."

Needless to say I ran through my bedroom and into my bathroom as fast as I could after saying that and as expected, Miyako soon chased after me while shouting, "Hey! What do you mean, 'You could be on the winning team, for once?' I don't know if I want to be on a team of sneaky thieves!" I smiled as she said this while I brushed my teeth.

"Yeah, yeah. Go get ready for bed. I'll get your bed out for you," I said when I was done. Truthfully, Miyako had been spending the night at my apartment since we were little. She even had her own pullout bed, which was almost as good as her regular bed. I always set it next to my bed when she spent the night, so that we could talk at night. Originally, it was done when we were little so that one of us could wake the other up, or hop into bed with the other when we both had nightmares. Now, we had our beds close by out of habit or tradition, although I don't know which. For a very long time, I couldn't have Miyako stay at my apartment because I had to go "steal" items as Jeanne. But now, everything was okay again.

I went under my bed and pulled the usual makeshift bed out as Miyako came out from the bathroom in her pajamas. I grabbed mine as she went to finish getting her bed set up. It was such an old habit that no exchange of words was necessary between us. I pulled the bed out while Miyako got ready for bed, and while I was getting ready, she put the sheets and covers on and grabbed one of my pillows.

It was probably a good thing that she was spending the night. I think Chiaki was right, all "for once" jokes put aside because I did believe that I was going to be sore tomorrow… very sore. Chiaki could even end up being in Miyako's bed tomorrow while she tended to the both of us. Poor Miyako…

I smiled as we laid down in our own beds, just like we used to. "Night Miyako," I said, which was followed by, "Night Maron," from the other person in the room.


	2. Recovering and Stealing

**Series:** Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne  
**Rating:** T  
**By:** MewSsomsie  
**Beta-ed By:** Argent-Allure  
**Summary: **Even after Maron helped Fin, her battles weren't over yet. The 'Final Battle at the Ice Castle' was only the beginning. The demons that were still on Earth are now coming after Maron with everything they've got. Maron must now be stronger than ever, or else everything she does will be in vain, and everyone she loves will be in danger.  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne. They belong to Arina-sensei. I **wanna** own Chiaki-kun though.  
**Chapter:** 2 "Recovering and Stealing."

* * *

------------------------NEXT DAY----------------------------

_I heard bells and saw a bright light as I opened my eyes slightly the next morning. Hey Chiaki was wrong! I feel perfectly fi— …I just jinxed it, didn't I? I think I see what he was talking about now…he was right…I don't want to move…at all. Maybe a hot bath will help_, I thought to myself.

I saw a shadow come over me and say, "Morning Maron!" I then realized that the shadow was Miyako standing in front of the sunlight that streamed in through my open windows.

"Hey Miyako," I said stiffly, still unable to move. It felt like I was a magnet stuck in a magnetic field. I was being pulled at in all directions.

"You don't look so good," Miyako commented with a worried expression set on her face.

"Yeah, I think I'm going to try and soak in the tub. Umm…you think you could help me up?" I asked, kind of embarrassed, even though she had been warned, and Chiaki had warned me enough that I knew this was going to happen.

She helped me stand up, and I began to limp towards the tub. It was hard, and I was really glad that I kept my robe in the bathroom, and the faucet up high for showers and lower for baths.

I finally made it to the bathroom and commented to myself, "I really don't give Chiaki enough credit for having to deal with this much pain so often."

"You okay, Maron?" I heard Miyako ask. I swallowed the comment of "just peachy" as hard as I could. Suddenly I saw a purple ball fly towards me.

"What's wrong, Access?" I asked to which he responded, "Sinbad wanted me to check on you… oops, I wasn't suppose to let you know that… Oh well, Sinbad will probably be mad at me, but then I guess that's why it's a good thing these ceilings are so high, you know. More than once I had to sleep at the highest point because Sinbad wanted to do something mean to me," I giggled softly at this causing me to notice the confused look on Miyako's face.

As I started to think about what Access had just said, I realized that it was a good thing that no one else could see or hear Access. I mean, he just called Chiaki "Sinbad" multiple times.

"Chiaki sent Access to check on us, but Access wasn't suppose to tell us that was the goal," I explained. She nodded slowly.

I smiled as I thought to myself, _As much as Miyako could never believe in things like fairy-tales and make believe, I guess that me and Chiaki talking to angels and transforming into thieves was even harder to believe, though Miyako still didn't know that Chiaki was Sinbad. Miyako always said that she "didn't have time for fantasies." Now she found out that her best friend, brown hair and brown eyes, was the famous "Kaitou Jeanne" with blonde hair and violet eyes._

"Anyway, Access, how's Chiaki doing?" I asked as I watched the purple angel lay on thin air as if it was a mattress.

"Well… heh, I **don't** think I'm suppose to tell you this Jeanne, but he's fallen off the bed three—," was all Access said as we heard a loud bang coming from Chiaki's apartment. Access then continued saying, "—make that four times. Sinbad **really** needs to get a bigger bed. He was moaning all night long. He also almost suffocated me last night! All I did was accidentally get the antiseptic that burns really bad. And it's not like I did it on purpose! I'm surprised that you girls didn't hear him. He was almost crying from the burn. Sinbad had to be exhausted last night, because he's **never** whined that much," Access finished.

_You know_, I thought to myself, _I think I could really get used to having Access around. He keeps giving me all this potential blackmail to use on Chiaki._

I sighed and told Miyako what Access had just told me. Of course, I didn't tell Miyako that Access had just called Chiaki 'Sinbad' every time the name was brought up. "Geez! You two really are helpless! I'm gonna go drag Chiaki here so that I can take care of both of you!" Miyako said. I wasn't in a mood to fight with her right now, so I said, "Thanks, Miyako," to which she smiled and left. Access followed behind her, but she didn't notice. Soon after I heard banging at Chiaki's door.

I turned the water on, and painfully lifted my arm to put my hair up. I had bad kickbacks before from both thieving and gymnastics, but it was nothing compared to this. I finally finished putting my hair up and got in the warm, which was probably closer to boiling, water to relax.

I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I heard was Miyako beating at the door asking if I had drowned.

"I'm okay, I guess I just fell asleep!" I yelled back.

Now that I was up, I noticed that the water was freezing. Deciding to get out, I pulled the plug on the drain and got out. I put a lot of weight of the handrail and forced myself to move my legs. I was still very sore, but not quite as much as I had been, thankfully.

I put my bathrobe on and walked, which would be more correctly put as hobbling, as well as I could to my room where I picked out an outfit to wear.

Having decided on a suitable outfit, I left my room adorned in a baggy shirt and a loose pair of shorts. I decided that I didn't care if Chiaki saw me like this because if we ever got married, and yes even I dreamed of marrying the "perfect man," which I thought was Chiaki for me anyway, he would see me like this anyway, and also because quite frankly, I felt horrible.

I stumbled into the living room area and fell down onto the couch opposite of Chiaki.

He looked like he was about to make a remark so I said, "If you touch me in any way while I'm defenseless, you **will** regret it. It might take two months for me to get better, but I will get you back. Are we clear on those terms?"

He replied, "Yeah, sure. I take it your not feeling good today?" A cheeky smile appeared on his face after saying those words.

"You're a jerk, you know that?" I responded grumpily, clearly not in the mood. The bad thing was that my words only gave him more satisfaction.

"Sinbad! Quit teasing Jeanne!" Access yelled.

Chiaki mumbled back saying, "I'm Chi-a-ki." To which I had to smile.

"So that's how to annoy you back, hmm?" I said, arm over my eyes resting.

"You wouldn't dare. Not when I could blackmail the same thing back," he said looking at me seriously.

Apparently he didn't enjoy being called "Sinbad" when he wasn't transformed.

If it weren't for the fact that we would be seen when we were stealing as kaitous, then he would probably would have wanted to be called "Chiaki" all the time, even when he was technically Sinbad.

He called me "Jeanne" when I was Jeanne most of the time, but he had slipped a couple of times by calling me "Maron" while we were transformed, before I knew that he was Sinbad. I had just thought that I had heard him wrong at the time though.

"Yeah sure," I said, letting the conversation melt into a comfortable silence when I realized something or rather someone, was missing.

"Hey Chiaki, where's Miyako?" I asked.

"She said that she needed to get a change of clothes from her room," he replied.

I couldn't go back to sleep again, so I decided to try and keep a conversation running with the only other two "people" in the room.

"How long do you think we'll feel miserable?" I asked them out in the open, though the "we'll" really only applied to the two people in pain, Chiaki and me.

"Just another day probably. You might feel better tonight though," Chiaki replied.

"Oh Maron, you decided to get up?" Miyako asked, when she got back.

"Yeah, I don't feel as bad anymore. I still don't feel good, but I don't feel so horrible," I paused a second before I noticed that only one person was now missing from the room.

"Chiaki, have you seen Fin today?" I asked.

"Yeah, she said 'thanks' for the candy. I think she also mentioned still being tired and going back to bed," he said.

"Lucky her. I can't sleep anymore," I replied bitterly.

I slowly got up out of boredom and went to Fin's teacup bed.

Gazing down, I saw her sleeping and crying. It looked like she was having a nightmare. I tried to lightly touch her shoulder to soothe her, and she calmed down a bit.

As gently as I could, I then picked her up and held her in my palm until I sat down again, putting her on my lap so that she could continue sleeping there. She calmed down and relaxed a lot more once I did so. "Maron, why are you sitting like that?" Miyako asked, seeing my head leaned back against sofa's cushions while I was sitting up straight.

Chiaki turned his head and asked, "You put her there?"

I replied, "Yeah, she looked like she was having a nightmare or something, and she calmed down when I held her, so I brought her out here with us," I said.

Miyako sat down and asked, "Who are you talking about?"

"Fin Fish," Chiaki replied, before I could say anything else.

"Fin Fish?" Miyako asked with a perplexed look on her face.

"She's the other angel, remember? There are two angels in this room, Fin and Access. Fin is a girl and Access is a boy. Actually, Fin was originally with Access, but—," I stopped mid-sentence suddenly overcome with emotion.

I looked to the ground for a moment before I could feel slight tears form in my eyes. I was trying hard not to cry, but apparently I looked liked I was about to cry anyway because Chiaki then looked at me with concerned look in his brown eyes.

"You haven't recovered enough to talk about this yet. You know that," Chiaki said, and as harsh as he sounded I could tell that it was a protective kind of harshness. It was like the kind he gave as Sinbad in some ways.

I picked Fin off me and laid her on the couch as I stumbled over and basically laid down beside Chiaki, turning to his chest with a few tears falling from my face.

"Shh, it's alright," he whispered to me.

I knew Miyako was not going to stay with us because I heard Chiaki say, "Could you please turn on the news for me on your way out, Miyako?" She quietly agreed to.

"The weather has incredibly reverted back to normal after the freezing and scorching temperatures of yesterday. Today's high is going to be 21 degrees Celsius with a low of 13 degrees Celsius. The wind is slightly stronger than usual, but there's a pleasant breeze nonetheless," the weather woman announced.

"See, you did all that," Chiaki said.

I was still lying on the sofa with my shoulder-length dirty-brown hair tucked under his tan chin. Although I had started out feeling sad about Fin, thinking about Miyako leaving and hearing her open her apartment door to her own mother reminded me of my own.

"Why do you think that they haven't called?" I asked, starting to sob again.

"It's going to take time, Maron. Just be patient and everything will fall into place," he said, still soothing me by brushing the back of my hair with his hand.

I soon fell into a peaceful slumber again.

"Maron, wake up," I heard, but I wasn't ready to get up so I ignored it. "Maron!" I heard again.

"Go away," I mumbled, still mostly asleep.

"Get off of me please," I heard. Slowly I opened my eyes to see Chiaki looking at me, cocky-grin back again for more "Maron-terror."

"What happened to the 'nice' Chiaki?" I mumbled again.

I then heard him whisper in my ear, "I'm going out around eleven tonight. I'm well rested and bored, so Kaitou Sinbad's gonna come out to play. Is Jeanne going to join him?"

I then pushed myself away from him and said, "What? So soon? Are you crazy?!"

This must have caught everyone's attention because everyone was now looking at me. He was smirking like an idiot, and after that last comment I was pretty sure he was one, as I shouted, "I'm up!"

"What time is it?" I asked no one in particular. _I fell asleep around three,_ I thought.

"Around seven," Miyako answered.

"Wow, I never sleep that long. I feel a whole lot better!" I said, stretching out my arms. Miyako must have come back in while I was asleep.

"Aren't you going to go see your parents, Miyako?" Chiaki asked.

"I'm going to stay one more night, you know, to make sure everything's okay, then I'll go back. Unless you both want me to leave?" Miyako asked, thinking that she wasn't wanted now.

"No! That's not what he meant! We just don't want you to feel forced to be here, that's all," I said smiling.

"There has been a recent increase in anger levels for people who have been visiting the Cima Art Museum. This is currently under investigation by the police," a newsman said, the forgotten news report now being listened to again.

"You're kidding me, right?" I said after I heard that. "I haven't even been off for two days yet!" I whined.

"Access, what's going on?" I heard Chiaki ask.

"These are just the demons that were already on Earth and in hiding. They should be equivalent to the first ones Jeanne fought," Access replied.

"Well, it looks like Kaitou Jeanne **is** going out tonight," Chiaki said with the cocky-grin in place.

"Yeah, shut up," I said, frowning. I opened my balcony window and walked out when I heard Miyako call out, "What are you doing?"

"It's already time to go back to work. So much for a break, huh?" I replied.

I was about to leave when I heard Chiaki say, "Notice Card?"

"Oh, right. Fin?" I called and watched as a little green ball came flying towards me. Fin must have been feeling better as she was flying at her usual speed again.

"Care to send it for me?"

"Sure!" I heard Fin reply.

"Access! Go with her. You know what to do!" Chiaki said.

"Gotcha partner!" Access said, trying to pose when Fin started pulling him along, pausing to ask, "What time?"

"11 pm, tonight," I replied. Fin nodded, then left dragging Access along behind her.

"Gotta love irony, huh?" Chiaki said, still smug.

"Wipe that grin off your face," I told him.

"What's going on?" Miyako asked.

"It's time for Kaitou Sinbad and Kaitou Jeanne to come out and play a game tonight," Chiaki said with a smile.

"Geez, you have too much free time if you're that excited," I exclaimed.

"Nah, just bored with too much energy," he replied, smile still on his smug lips.

"Okay, let's try this again: **Maron,** what's going on?" Miyako asked again, putting extra emphasis to my name.

"You might want to go home now. I have to go 'checkmate' something in that museum. You're more than welcome to come, but it's not going to be fun," I said.

"And he's going with you?" She asked, pointing to Chiaki.

"As sorry as I am, for both me and you, yes he is. There is absolutely no way I could get in and out there without him being there. But think about it this way, it can be just like old times! You can set the trap and I can get past it! You never did get up to 'Miyako Special: Part 20' you know!" I said with a cheery grin upon my face.

"I want to see what you do. I know how the police works by now, so I want to see the reverse side," Miyako said.

"Hmm, Chiaki do you care if she comes along, just once?" I asked, smiling. He looked at me for a moment then walked outside to the balcony.

"You don't want her too?" I asked. I couldn't blame him though, after all, he was used to "working" without having someone constantly depend on him.

"That's not as much of a problem as the fact that the police know me and you, or rather 'Jeanne and Sinbad,' very well. Even if the demon is weak, the police are not. What happens if she's caught?

I imagine the first excuse to come to her mind would be something along the lines of, 'I was spying of them,' and I couldn't blame her for it either. They would then quiz her, and eventually she'd break.

You know that. She is a very strong girl, but it's her own family that would break her. Now imagine what would happen if she let it slip that Sinbad and Jeanne were the two of us? Neither of us could really run that far, so we'd be put in jail.

Even if we have done nothing wrong, they don't know that. And I know that Miyako would try and get us out, but everyone would write it off as her being upset about her best friend. I would love for her to come, but I just don't think it would turn out okay," Chiaki finished.

"Thank-you," I said. He looked at me like I was crazy. "Thank-you for being honest. You're right. She can follow us to the gate, but we're the thieves. She's the police officer's daughter. It's like we told her yesterday, right?" I asked him, once more looking for reassurance in his big brown eyes.

"Right. Besides, where's the fun if we can't avoid 'Miyako Special: Part 20,' anyway?" A smile appeared on Chiaki's lips as he said the last sentence

"As wrong as it is, I would love to let you go by yourself tonight, but I think it is written somewhere that 'Maron having a personal normal life is forbidden,'" I responded, a small sad smile appearing on my face as I said this.

"It's not wrong, Maron. It's normal. But, I have to have some competition tonight, so you not coming is not an option," Chiaki finished, giving me a playful, yet reassuring smile.

"Well, let's go tell her. She's pacing now, so it will only be a minute before she starts eavesdropping. Besides, we have to get ready, right?" I finished, trying to cheer up.

Chiaki nodded and started walking back into my apartment. I breathed in slowly, exhaled out, and then followed Chiaki into my apartment.

"Miyako, remember what you said yesterday? You want to be a detective when you grow up, so it wouldn't be right to accompany a bunch of thieves, right? It's your job to stop thieves.

Besides, wouldn't it appear odd to others if you, who wanted to catch Jeanne or Sinbad, going as far as to run out of school, leave homework, and skip dinner, suddenly didn't want to go on those outings anymore?

And on top of that, it's just not safe. I'm sorry Miyako, but Chiaki's right. You might get hurt or arrested. As your best friend Maron, not as Jeanne, I can't allow that. Also, you're the only one who sets good traps.

Without you, the only competition is between me and Sinbad, and that competition is never fair," I said as I heard a snicker from Access, who had come back with Fin sometime during my conversation with Miyako. A short glare fixed the snickering problem very fast.

"It's okay, Maron. It's just that I don't know if I can set those traps anymore knowing that you might get hurt from them," Miyako said, having to look at the ground as she said this.

"Miyako, you should be able to set better traps **because **you know it's me. Think about it, you know how far I can go as Maron, so that should help. Just don't worry about me getting hurt and concentrate only on catching me, okay?

I'm sure that Sinbad would love to make his ego even larger by saving me again," I asked, hoping to make this as painless as possible. Chiaki rolled his eyes at the last part, as if saying, "I do **not** have a big ego!"

"Right!" Miyako said, trying to put on her best smile.

"Notice card placed, Maron!" Fin said, finally getting a chance to speak. Chiaki nodded, silently telling me that Access had placed his too.

"Let's see. It's eight o'clock now, so in three hours Jeanne needs to appear. What should we eat? I can't work on an empty stomach after all," I said, smiling as Fin and Access opened my fridge.

"How did you do that?" Miyako asked.

I looked at her a second, tilting my head slightly to the left before Chiaki answered for me, "She didn't do anything. Access and Fin opened the fridge."

"Oh, okay," was the response that came from Miyako.

"I'm going to go eat out, care to join me?" I asked.

Chiaki didn't really answer because it was quite obvious that he did, and Miyako said, "Well, I better go back home to prepare. Don't want you to get a head start, right?"

"Right!" I responded. Miyako then turned and headed out my apartment door, but before she left she stopped and said, "Maron I won't tell anyone, don't worry. I won't even tell anyone the stuff you said about Sinbad either! Okay, I'm going now, bye!"

"What **exactly** did 'we' tell her about Sinbad, hmm?" Chiaki asked, as I was shutting my door.

Miyako was already in her apartment across the hall.

I giggled a bit before saying, "Nothing you need to know. I'll only tell 'Sinbad' when I see him later on **if** he's a good boy and doesn't cheat by 'checkmating' while I'm already in the process of 'checkmating,'" I said, a full-blown smile on my face.

"I can let you see Sinbad a whole lot earlier than you planned if you want to tell him now," Chiaki said, trying to get me to tell him what I told Miyako about Sinbad.

Truthfully, it was nothing, but hey, why not annoy Chiaki as best as I could while I had the chance. I did love getting revenge on him.

"Nope. I'm not telling you until we get back home. I have to make sure that 'Mister Kaitou Sinbad' behaves himself tonight," I responded, seeing Fin giggle lightly and Access trying his best not to smile. After all, it **was** his partner getting teased.

" 'Mister Kaitou Sinbad'?" Chiaki asked, looking at me as if I was crazy.

"Well, it's either that or 'Sinny.' I'll let you pick," I said, my smile still somehow growing.

"What about just plain old 'Sinbad' without any of Jeanne's nicknames?" Chiaki asked, the expression on his face a cross between hopeful and annoyed.

"We'll see how you behave at dinner. If you're good, then I'll think about it," I responded as I grabbed my keys and slipped my boots on.

"Shall we?" I asked the remaining three in my apartment, all three answering "yes" in their own way.

Of course, Chiaki and I would be the only ones being seen eating, as it would look weird if food was floating in thin air.

"Where should we go eat?" I asked as I started walking out the door.

"You're going like that? Wow, Maron—," was all Chiaki was allowed to say before I looked down and saw that I was still in my loose shirt and shorts.

"I'll meet up with you in ten minutes. Wait **outside** my apartment door, please," I said, looking long and hard at Chiaki. He chuckled and left my apartment.

"That means you too, Access!" I heard Fin say in her pleasantly squeaky voice. After being kicked out, I heard Access utter a disappointed, "So close!"

I heard Chiaki's response to his words as well, "You got caught?! Shoot! I wanted you to give me the full report of Maron changing!"

After Fin and I agreed that Chiaki and Access were both perverts and jerks, I started picking out what I wanted to wear tonight, as Maron, that was.

After I finished looked into the mirror at my selection: a light blue skirt, a white top, and a pair of black lace-up boots. I asked Fin what she thought, and she said that it was cute.

Afterwards, I went and brushed my hair out, trying many different styles out. I ended up leaving it down though. Why bother, when I was only going to be "Maron" for another hour.

"Took you long enough," were the first words I heard out of Chiaki's mouth as I locked my apartment door.

I rolled my eyes saying, "You're already in trouble. Don't push it," to which he quieted down for a minute.

"Where are we going to eat?" He asked.

"I don't know. I heard that there was a new hamburger place that opened up somewhere around the museum that we're going to tonight," I responded.

"That's fine. Any idea where the museum is?" Chiaki asked.

"About twenty minutes from here if we can get a taxi," I answered back.

--

"You take taxies?" Chiaki asked, pretending to sound confused.

"Ha-ha, so funny," I responded, walking to where the taxi would come so that I could tell the driver where to take me.

"I'd be more nice to me, **Sinny**. You never know what Miyako might know, or **accidentally** find out."

"Stop with the 'Sinny' already! It's CHI-A-KI. Not 'Sinny,' not 'Mister Kaitou Sinbad,' and right now, not even Sinbad! Come **on** Maron," Chiaki started, but I put my finger over my mouth.

That shocked him enough to remind him of where we were. It was a good thing that it was eight at night, or else the whole town would have known who "Kaitou Sinbad" really was. I **don't** think Chiaki would have been happy then.

A few minutes later a taxi picked us up and I told him where to go.

"By the way, you get to pay for dinner now," I told Chiaki while we were in the taxi.

Until right now, there had been a peaceful silence. Chiaki was probably sorting over the theft in his mind, like I **should** have been doing.

"Huh?," he asked. Apparently in deep thought because he acted as if he didn't hear me.

"I said that you're paying for dinner tonight. I'm paying for the taxi, you pay for the food," I explained to him.

He nodded and went back to whatever he was thinking about before. I would ask him what he was thinking about, but we were in a taxi with the driver, and it was probably something that could not be said in front of another person.

By another person, I meant one that didn't know our "little" secret.

The rest of the ride continued in silence. It wasn't an uncomfortable silence, but it was still silence.

Once we reached our destination, I paid the driver a tip and we walked into the restaurant.

The new restaurant, called the "Golden Dinner," was just as its name implied. It was very bright, and slightly full.

It looked like the dinner rush was over though because there were about six booths available. The sign asked customers to seat themselves, so I dragged Chiaki, who currently had Access on his left shoulder and Fin on his right, over to the closest booth.

I was going to make a comment, but I decided to wait until our waitress had come. "So, what would you young couple like to eat today?" I heard our waitress, Kimine ask.

She had dark red hair in a ponytail down to her shoulders and was wearing the restaurant's uniform of a black shirt, black pants, black shoes, and a gold-tinted apron. "I'll have a cheeseburger and a water, please," I said.

Chiaki then responded, "I'll have the 'BLT platter' with a coke, please."

"Okay, I'll get those drinks to you and then bring your order up," Kimine responded.

"Since when do you drink water, Maron?" Chiaki asked.

I smiled and responded, "I dunno. I just felt like having water tonight. You know, before I go to work I at least try to have **something** halfway healthy."

We weren't going to talk about how we were going to "checkmate" the target because of the area, and because like always, Chiaki and I were going to get in differently. Getting past the police would be too easy with the two of us together, even if Miyako were there.

"Here ya go!" The cheerful waitress said as she handed Chiaki and me our food. She placed the bill on the end of the table while turning to leave.

Chiaki gave some of his lettuce to Access. We had fortressed Fin and Access in a barricade of salt and peppershakers, napkin holders, and spice holders so that they were hidden well enough for Chiaki and me to "accidentally" drop food for them to pick up.

After we finished eating and paying for our meal, and I asked him, "Are we going to get a bit closer before we split up, or would you rather go ahead by yourself seeing as you're so talkative tonight?"

"We can wait a little bit. Sorry, I didn't mean to keep blowing you off. I was trying to think of the best way to get in, but I haven't been there yet, so I have no clue," he responded.

We were now walking down the sidewalk to the museum, and had about five more minutes until we had to split up.

"So, what'cha think Miyako has in store for us tonight. I hope no more trap floors! Geez, I hate those. I had a really bad experience last time I fell through one," I responded, watching as he started to smile with his cocky grin.

"Are you saying that the kiss wasn't good?" He asked, all cockiness possible present in his features.

"Oh, the kiss was good. He kissed just like you kiss, for some strange reason," I said, pretending to think about it.

"I didn't know it was your first kiss," Chiaki said suddenly. His voice was a lot quieter than it had been, but it was still audible.

"Well, the way I look at it is that you have to make it up by being together with me," I said. I didn't want this kind of mood right before a theft!

"I can do that," he said, hugging me with my back against his chest.

"Mm, you washed you're hair today," Chiaki commented.

I wanted to slap him away, but I figured that regardless of what he said, he still wasn't charged enough to really steal anything tonight. We both looked tired, and I decided to let him enjoy himself this time so that he would be in good working condition. That's when I had an idea.

"Hey Chiaki?" I asked, to which I got a response of "Hmm?" while he was still holding me.

"Why don't we work together tonight? Neither one of us is really ready to go back yet, but together we should manage. And don't try and tell me you're ready because if you were, you wouldn't be so quiet," I said. That got his attention.

"Just tonight?" He asked. Apparently he enjoyed the rivalry between us when we "stole" things.

"Just tonight. I'm going to look for traps, guards, and an entrance on the right side of the museum; you take the left. Meet back here in forty minutes transformed and ready, okay?" I asked.

He nodded then ran off with Access.

"Fin? You ready?" I asked. She nodded as I ran over to the trees. I jumped up one for a good look and started scouting the area for a while. Before I knew it, Fin said, "Maron, only about five minutes until meet-up time!" I nodded and jumped down quietly transforming while saying my usual words of self-encouragement,

"Strong and serious,

Matchless and marvelous,

Energetic and courageous!"

I could feel the change take place. My shoulder-length dirty-brown hair became blonde as it tumbled down my back in a ponytail.

Now fully transformed as Jeanne, I ran to the meet-up spot where Chiaki, or rather, Sinbad jumped down from a tree. "Took you long enough," he said, as if he was bored out of his mind for however long he had been waiting for me.

"I'm two minutes early!" I exclaimed as I looked over the front of the museum.

"Whatever. The left side has around ten guards and about six traps that will catch you if you don't watch out for them," Sinbad finished while tying on his trademark mask. The lower portion of his face would be covered, once again.

"You haven't worn that in forever. Why now?" I asked, tilting my head a little to the right while looking at him.

"Because Miyako and her dad will be there. Since this hides the outline of my face, it'll be harder for them to tell who I am," he responded.

I nodded absentmindedly, while looking at the front entrance.

"The right side is identical to the left. Knowing Miyako, the best way to enter is from the top in this setup. If we charge the front, I imagine that there will be about five of her big spotlights waiting for us. However, if we hook my ribbon to your boomerang, it should take us up. I don't think Miyako is expecting us to work together, so it would give us a good start. Sound good?" I asked, looking for confirmation.

"Sure. Here we go!" Sinbad responded, then looked over at me as we both said, "Game Start!"

Sinbad then threw his boomerang across the roof and once it had dug into the edge, I threw my ribbon around it to secure it. Sinbad grabbed onto me as we swung up the side. A spotlight went on us as we reached the roof.

"Hi guys! Hope you enjoy the show tonight!" I yelled in a cutesy voice I only used as Jeanne.

Sinbad rolled his eyes and ducked down, out of the spotlight. I guess he didn't want anyone to know that we were working together yet. I heard him pull his boomerang out from where he anchored it earlier as I pulled my ribbon back to me.

I looked to where Sinbad was sitting. Between the distance of me and him was a skylight window!

"Sinbad!" I whispered.

He looked up and I pointed in front of us. He smiled, or rather I think he did, as his boomerang broke the window and he jumped down. I followed in after him.

"We're in," I said to Fin as I held the Petit Claire up.

She asked, "Everything okay so far?" To which I replied, "Yeah."

I put the Petit Claire away as I looked around. "Any idea of where the painting is?" Sinbad asked.

"Yeah, Fin said it's on the seventh floor. I think this is the ninth according to the number over there on the elevator," I responded, the adrenaline in my body coursing through at full force now.

"Jeanne! There's a row of staircases over to the right," Sinbad said, turning to run as soon as I followed him.

We ran down two flights of stairs, meaning that we were now on the seventh floor.

"It's been too quiet, even though we got a good start," Sinbad said, as I was thinking the same thing.

I nodded and walked forward only to be caught by Sinbad as he pulled me back. I looked at him and he pointed to the ceiling where lasers were beaming down. I would have set an alarm off if Sinbad had not pulled me back in time.

"One wrong move and we'll signal the police with those trip-lasers," said Sinbad pointing out the obvious.

"Since you can't see the lasers when you're up next to them, how are we going to 'checkmate' it then?" I questioned.

"Are my two little Kaitous stuck?" I heard Miyako ask.

I turned around to find that she had her traditional over-sized gun on her. I saw one of the support beams holding up the building, to the right of the possessed painting.

Suddenly I said, "I got it!"

"Sinbad!" I said pointing.

He nodded as I threw my ribbon around it. "You're going to have to 'checkmate' it. I have to hold on!" I told him.

He nodded and grabbed on as I got him close enough to "checkmate" the demon-possessed painting.

"Checkmate!" He yelled after producing multiple pins.

I saw the demon squirm as it was sealed. I then used my ribbon to pull the black chest piece back so Sinbad could grab it. He was able to grab it, but when we reached the floor, we hit a laser.

"RING!" The laser's alarm shouted to tell every single cop in the building that we were there.

"Jeanne! Let's go!" Sinbad shouted. I was running behind him when I saw a window.

"Sinbad!" I called as he turned around. I pointed to the window.

He nodded and broke the window's glass as we jumped and he once again threw his boomerang with my ribbon latched on to it.

Miyako looked out the window and saw us climbing up towards the roof. She smiled and put a finger to her mouth as if saying, "Shh. Go ahead and escape." I nodded and went up faster.

I soon heard Miyako's dad say, "Where are they?"

Miyako replied, "That stupid Kaitou Jeanne and Kaitou Sinbad jumped out of a window! I looked and didn't see them outside the wall, weren't they on a lower floor?"

Geez! Miyako was a good actress! She sounded genuinely angry that we had gotten away!

We had reached the roof, and not a second too soon as shortly after, I saw Miyako's dad look at the outer parts of the building in search of us.

I yelled out my signature, "Once again I have stolen a deceptive beauty! Adieu!"

Sinbad just slapped his forehead, irritated with my "oh-so-silent" escape.

"Remind me never to work with you again. You're too difficult," Sinbad said as we jumped buildings.

"I had to! I have a reputation to keep up. If I didn't say anything they might have thought that I died from the jump or something!" I defended, keeping up with Sinbad.

"The only one who would have really cared knows that you're alright. Now we have the police following us by car. Please tell me when we're going to be able to safely go home," he responded.

"Well, I don't know about you, but as soon as I jump over to the right out of direct moonlight, I'm pretty sure that they'll loose me," I responded, smiling back.

"Meet you on the balcony when you get home?" He asked, to which I replied, "Sure!"

We then both darted off in opposite directions, out of the moonlight.

I ran the whole way, but it only took about five minutes for me to loose the police.

Running into a forest when the police were in cars really helped put me in the lead. First, they had to realize what I just did, then they had to get out, and then by the time they were in the forest I was already long gone. I'm sure that Sinbad had applied a similar tactic.

Right before I got to the apartment complex, I transformed back to Maron. A few minutes later, as I was walking up to my mailbox, Chiaki walked in. "Long time no see," I joked.

"Anything?" He asked.

I finished opening it to see a white note card. A little white anonymous note card, which in other words meant, "Chiaki mail."

"_I'm not working with you again for awhile. But, you can see me whenever you like. I always like seeing cute girls in bras, baby! Chiaki_"

"WHAT…IS...THIS? CHI-A-KI!" I yelled, turning around and glaring at him. The flush from my anger disguised my small blush.

"What? I thought you liked 'everything' about me?" His "Maron-terror" grin was in place once again.

"No, I said that I liked 'everything about you'… that was nice!! Not perverted!" I yelled.

He put his finger over my mouth and said, "Don't wake the complex up, okay?"

I took a deep breath and then looked over to see Miyako, who had just walked in.

"Hey Miyako," I said, my calm voice back.

"I'd get upstairs before my dad sees you. He might wonder why you're out so late. I'll come 'check on you' in a minute," Miyako said, winking.

I nodded and pulled Chiaki up the stairs.

"You were pretty good tonight, Sinbad," Access said.

I thought Chiaki was going to turn around and strangle him right there and then for calling him Sinbad again, but instead he said, "Access. I would sleep over at Maron's tonight if I were you. You won't like what happens if you come home."

I smiled at Chiaki's statement even though he couldn't see it.

"I'll see you in a minute," Chiaki said as we both opened our apartment doors.

I nodded and took off my boots then grabbed a strawberry ramune for me, and an orange one for Chiaki. Since Fin and Access were too small to finish one by themselves, the two of them split a bottle of green apple ramune through two separate straws.

I brought a chair out onto my balcony too. It was kind of like a little party, when I thought about it. Miyako would probably come over soon too and we would all stay up late and miss two days of school.

But still, every once in a while it was nice to just enjoy the moment with the people that I cared about most.

"Oh! You got me a strawberry ramune? You're too nice!" Chiaki said as he walked out onto his balcony. He carried a chair with him as he jumped over to my balcony.

"Nope. This is mine. I only share with my **partners**," I told him.

He looked at me and then said, "I **was** your partner tonight. How could you forget? Either get me a ramune, or I'll go pick-lock your door and get one myself."

"Here," I finally said, handing him the orange one.

"Thanks," he responded.

"No problem."

"Maron! Open the door!" Miyako said, banging on my front door.

I sighed and got up.

"Aw, and I thought I'd get some alone time with Maron!" Chiaki dramatically said, as if he were actually upset.

"Fin and Access are here. What do you mean by 'alone time'? " I asked, smiling as I walked over to let Miyako in, hopefully before she broke down my door.

"Hey, Miyako," I said as I opened the front door. I let her in then shut the door.

"Why's your balcony door open?" Miyako asked.

"Grab a chair and ramune and join us," I said, walking back out to the balcony.

Miyako smiled and asked, "Why didn't you invite me earlier?"

"What are you talking about? We just sat down," I responded. I was already back in my seat getting comfy.

Miyako put her chair on the balcony as I said, "Miyako, shut the balcony door for me, please."

"Okay," she said.

With the door now shut, we sat in silence before Miyako asked me, "So, did you talk to Sinbad about 'that thing'?"

"'That thing'?" Chiaki asked, looking at me.

"Yeah, Maron said that she was going ask Sinbad if he cared about me finding out about his identity!" Miyako said, excited.

"Oh, I don't care," Chiaki responded.

"You know who he is?" Miyako asked, still excited.

I slapped my hand to my forehead while Chiaki replied, "You could say I'm slightly involved."

"How?" Miyako asked.

"Through Access," Chiaki replied again.

I really wanted to speed this up, but it **was** Chiaki's choice, so I stayed quiet.

That was until Chiaki looked over at me and asked, "So, what did you want to ask me?"

"Nothing, seeing as you've already decided on what you want to do," I responded, looking at the stars.

"Decided?" Miyako asked.

Chiaki smiled and said, "Do you want me to tell you who Sinbad is?"

"Won't you get in trouble? Maron said she would get in trouble if she told me without asking," Miyako asked again.

"Just answer the question. Yes or no?" Chiaki asked, looking at the stars with me. His cocky grin told me that he was about to tell her.

"Okay, 'yes' I do," Miyako responded, not liking the way he asked the last question.

"Okay. Sinbad is…" Chiaki started, dragging it out to annoy Miyako.

"Is?" Miyako asked, looking at him.

"The reason I left home," Chiaki finished smiling, as Miyako slowly started getting impatient.

"But who **is** Sinbad?" She asked again.

"Sinbad is…" Chiaki started. If he played with Miyako one more time, she was going to let him have it.

"Chiaki," I finished for him.

He caught it, but Miyako didn't. "Maron, why'd you interrupt him? He was about to tell me!"

"He wasn't going to tell you for a while, he was just having fun annoying you. Besides, I just answered your question," I finished. She was going to make me come out and say it!

"You did? But the only thing you said was, 'Chiaki,'" Miyako said, trying to catch my eyes.

"Yeah. Sinbad is… Chiaki," I said, giving Chiaki the worst death-glare possible for making me say it instead of him.

"Chiaki's…Sinbad…" Miyako said, looking at the floor.

"You know Sinbad, you were pretty mean to her," Access said.

"Shut up, Access. And for the last time, it's CHI-A-KI," he responded.

Miyako looked broken. Totally, utterly, broken.

"Chiaki, is this how I looked?" I asked.

He frowned; apparently, he didn't like thinking about that incident either.

"No, you were far worse. She didn't slap me and run away crying like you immediately did."

"Hey Miyako, why don't you go to bed? I think that your bed is still out from last night," I said, helping her up and walking her to the bed.

She lay down as I went back outside. "We need to make sure she doesn't leave tonight," I told the remaining three.

Chiaki nodded and said, "I'm sorry. I didn't think it would be that big of a blow to her, you know. I understood why you were upset and I can understand why Miyako's confused, but I didn't expect her to react like that… "

I closed the balcony door and said, "Hey Fin, Access, will you two go inside and make sure she doesn't try and leave?" Both angels nodded and flew through the door.

"Chiaki, I don't think that was your fault, not all of it anyway. I think that Miyako is so tired that she isn't all here. I mean, it's about 1:30 in the morning now, isn't it? She's usually asleep by ten or within five minutes after getting home from a theft. That's why I didn't want her to leave in that state. There's a good chance she won't even remember tonight when she wakes up.

But at breakfast, you **WILL** tell her again. And you **WON'T** tease her about it. Either way, I need to go to bed myself. Could you help me set up an activation alarm incase she tries to open the door? You usually come in through the balcony, and only you and I know how to disable it, so the only reason it would go off is if Miyako triggers it. I would like to make sure she doesn't go anywhere in the state that she's in," I finished.

"You can't set those up by yourself?" Chiaki asked. Although he made it sound like he was teasing me, I could see, even in my tired state, that he had asked out of pure curiosity.

"Yeah, I can. But I'm getting tired too, so I want help," I responded.

Chiaki shook his head and said, "I'll just sleep out here on your couch. This is my mess."

"There is **no** way you're sleeping in my apartment. Who knows what you would do to me," I said.

"How is that any different from me sneaking into your apartment from the balcony? I've already proven I can get into your room without waking you up," he said smiling.

"You promise you won't try anything with me and Miyako? You'll be in so much trouble if you do. I'll lock every door and window, and then I'll run an electrical current through every lock for the rest of the year. And I don't mean the school year either," I said, looking at him directly in the eye.

"Promise," he said, not avoiding my eyes.

"Okay, you win," I said. "Go get ready. You can sleep on the couch," I said walking into my apartment.

He jumped into his apartment to get ready for bed as I ran into my room and changed into my nightgown really fast, letting my hair down afterwards.

I was surprised when Chiaki knocked on my bedroom door. Chiaki…_knocked_…on **my** bedroom door!

_Wow, I need to check if he has a fever_, I thought.

"Coming," I said as I walked to the door.

I saw Chiaki wearing a white shirt and some loose pants. I was in my yellow pants and long-sleeve yellow top. He went to my bed and stole some covers before I grabbed a pillow and walked out behind him.

"What?" He asked as he noticed I was following him.

"Pillow," I said holding up the object in my hands.

"Oh, thanks," he replied.

"Where's Access gonna sleep?" I asked. Usually Fin slept on my pillow.

"Wherever he wants. Probably close to Fin though, knowing him," Chiaki responded.

I smiled at the thought of Fin waking up in the morning to find Access next to her.

I sat down on the floor as he was getting his "bed" ready.

"You know Chiaki, I think that today turned out okay. And regardless of what you say, I enjoyed being on the same team. It was really fun," I said as I temporarily laid my head on the part of the couch that was made up.

"It would have been better if we hadn't tripped those alarms," Chiaki said, sitting down on the couch.

I smiled and said, "Yeah, but then where's the fun?"

"Fun? You have a weird definition of —," was all I heard before I drifted off to sleep on the couch Chiaki was going to sleep on.

-------------------------------------------- Third Person -----------------------------------------

"— fun, Maron," Chiaki said, smiling as he watched her sleep.

"You look so pretty when you're like this. You look just like an angel. Alright, I'll carry you to bed," Chiaki said as he picked Maron up and put her in her bed.

"If I let you sleep there, Maron, you'd kill me for sure. Your neck would also hurt," Chiaki whispered.

He then carried Maron in his arms bridal style, to her bed.

Chiaki gentlylaid her down and covered her up with a blanket whispering even quieter than before, "Good night Maron. I love you."

End Day 2 >

* * *


	3. Fath in Thieves?

**Series:** Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne  
**Rating:** T  
**By:** MewSsomsie  
**Beta-ed by:** Argent-Allure  
**Summary:** Even after Maron helped Fin, her battles weren't over yet. The 'Final Battle at the Ice Castle' was only the beginning. The demons that were still on Earth are now coming after Maron with everything they've got. Maron must now be stronger than ever, or else everything she does will be in vain, and everyone she loves will be in danger."

**AN:** **I will be updating this story weekly (or close to it).**

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne.  
**Chapter: **2 "Faith in Thieves?"

* * *

Chiaki was sleeping peacefully in Maron's apartment when he heard loud footsteps in the living room. Slowly he opened his eyes, trying to adjust to the light of the living room he was in. After his eyes cleared up, he saw Miyako. She was in the kitchen pouring herself some water.

"Morning Miyako," the blue-haired boy said.

"Chiaki? Why are you sleeping on Maron's couch?" The other being that was awake in the room asked.

Before Chiaki could reply, Maron yelled, "Ah! Help me! Chiaki! Chiaki—," however, Chiaki was in the room before she had even finished saying, "Help me!" He slowly put his hands on Maron's arms as she yelled his name again.

A slight smile formed on Maron's face after Chiaki soothed her. Miyako had run in when she heard the, "Help me!" However, Chiaki had beaten her to it. So instead she watched as Chiaki calmed Maron down. "Geez, what's with her? I bet she's awake!" Miyako said, looking at Maron carefully.

"I don't think so. I think she's having a bad dream," Chiaki said, not taking his eyes off of Maron.

"Why don't you wake her up then?" Miyako asked, getting impatient. Ironically enough, Miyako herself also had a weird dream last night. She dreamt that Chiaki had said that **he** was Sinbad! Still, she wanted to tell Chiaki and Maron about it. They'd probably get a good laugh out of it, and Maron might even be able to tell her who Sinbad really was. After all, they were talking as they ran away last night.

"Because, she might need to see it to the end. Sometimes, waking up isn't the best thing to do, even if it is a scary dream," Chiaki answered carefully. Maron had told him about the dreams she had before, and she said that they were usually her own self-doubts. She dreamed about things like her parents not loving her and other matters along those lines. She didn't need to be woken up unless she started screaming again.

"What?" Was all Miyako was able to ask before Maron started tossing around.

In her sleep she shouted, "No! Please don't hurt him! Please!" Chiaki then decided that it was time to wake Maron up.

"Maron!" Chiaki yelled while shaking the dreaming girl lightly. After she didn't wake up, Chiaki started shaking her harder. Finally, the young girl opened her eyes, a single teardrop falling out.

MARON POV >

"Chiaki!" I yelled hugging onto him around the neck. That was the worst dream I had ever had. It was worse than the one where Sinbad had killed me, even worse than the ones I had about my parents.

"Maron? Shh, it's okay. It was only a dream." Chiaki was trying to comfort me, and it was working.

Slowly, I started to dry my eyes as I had started slightly crying before. I could tell Chiaki was wondering what my dream was about, but I knew that he wouldn't ask me until I brought it up myself, or at least until it was the afternoon or evening. I was glad too, because I didn't want to talk about my dream yet. I saw Miyako tiptoe out of the room into the kitchen.

"Has she… Has she said anything about last night?" I asked while sniffling.

Chiaki pulled back from me and shook his head saying, "She hasn't acted any differently than usual. I wonder if she forgot like you said."

"Who knows? Why don't you go see if she remembers?" I asked, mostly playful, getting up and slightly pushing Chiaki out of my room.

"Wha-? Why are you pushing me out?" He said.

However, he made no objections when I replied, "Because I'm about to get changed, and you're not going to be in the room for that. I'll be out in a minute, don't worry!"

"Okay, okay. I get the picture. I have to keep my promises, right?" Chiaki answered, a playful expression on his face and in his voice. His eyes said, however, that he was still worried about me.

"Right! If you don't, you'll be in trouble!" I finished, as I gave him a final push so that he was now outside my door. I then closed the door really fast.

"You almost hit my nose, idiot!" Chiaki yelled through my door.

I giggled a little before replying, "You should have been faster!" I then opened my door again and pointed to where Miyako was watching TV. "Go talk to her. She might be in denial or something," I whispered. Chiaki nodded and started walking over to her.

Afterwards, I put on my pink dress that I usually wore when I had go to steal something. I brushed my hair out, but decided to leave the bun out today. I then put a pair of white ankle socks on and walked out into the living room.

"Morning Miyako!" I said, smiling happily. I knew that I would probably had to drug her when she found out that Chiaki was Sinbad again. I doubted that she would be happy. I mean after all, it wasn't typical for a police chief's daughter to be best friends with two the wanted thieves her family was after.

"Hey Maron. I had this really weird dream last night. What time did I fall asleep here anyway?" Miyako asked.

I answered her truthfully. "I put you to bed around 1:30."

"What do you mean you 'put me to bed?'" Miyako asked while sounding annoyed.

"She means that she had to walk you to your 'bed' in her room. You're not used to being up that late, are you?" Chiaki asked. He was a sneaky little jerk; I wouldn't have realized that he was trying to question me that way. Miyako hadn't realized it either.

"No, but you're not either, right? No nitpicking when the same thing applies to you!" Miyako said dramatically.

"But, the difference is that I **am** used to it," Chiaki said in his teasing voice. I wanted to go over and strangle him! He was making the same mistake that he made last night!

"Anyway, what's this dream you were talking about? Looks like I'm the only one who didn't get one. I was just plagued by my usual dreams of Maron wearing—," Chiaki was saying until I went over and slapped the back of his head.

"Bad boy!" I said, glaring playfully at him.

"I'm not a dog!" Chiaki answered back, faking a mad voice.

"Then don't think like one!" I responded back, still play-glaring at him.

That lasted a few more minutes until I sighed and shook my head. "This is pointless. It's like teaching a old dog new tricks."

Chiaki was about to comment back, but I asked Miyako a question before he could, "Anyway, he's right, Miyako. What was your dream about?"

"Well, I dreamt that Chiaki had said, well you actually, had said that he was Kaitou Sinbad!" Miyako said, and she started laughing. I think she expected us to join in, but we didn't. Instead, I looked at Chiaki.

"What?" Miyako asked after she saw that we weren't laughing.

"That wasn't a dream," was all Chiaki said. There was no playfulness in his voice. His eyes were cold yet kind, and he was so stiff that I don't think he would have even moved if a rock had been dropped on top of him.

I think Miyako was starting to see how the "carefree playboy" Nagoya Chiaki could be the "blunt and serious" Kaitou Sinbad. His voice was almost the same now, something Chiaki made sure that it never happened around anyone who didn't know he was Sinbad.

It was kind of like the "immature" voice I used as Jeanne. I had to **try** and sound like that when I was Jeanne, so I rarely slipped up when I was Maron. Although I had to admit that I did love the "Jeanne voice" very much. It just sounded so… well, immature! Of course, that was just the voice. When I'm Jeanne, I'm more mature, athletic, and strong.

"Chiaki…Why… Why are you Sinbad?" Miyako asked. She was doing better than last night, but she was still freaking out.

"Chiaki, tell her the part about Fin. I'm going to go make breakfast. What does everyone want?" I asked. I did not want to be present while Chiaki was telling her about Da-Tenshi, Fin Fish. I couldn't take it and I would most likely break down. I didn't need to do that in front of Miyako right now.

"Just make something that takes a long time to cook," was all Chiaki said. I looked at him and nodded; his eyes were still a cold brown.

"Gotcha," was all I said.

I turned around to leave as I heard, "When Access and Fin were in Heaven, the Devil kidnapped Fin, and brainwashed her. He then turned her back into her 'Jun-Tenshi' form and sent her to Maron without any memories of being brainwashed by the devil," Chiaki was saying. He thought that I was out of earshot, but truthfully, I wasn't.

"Fin! Access!" I yelled from the kitchen. From there, I saw a green ball and a purple ball come floating slowly towards me.

"What, Maron?" Fin asked. Apparently, they had still been asleep.

"Time to help me make breakfast!" I said energetically. Fin was used to helping, but the confused and disbelieving expression Access had on made me realize that Chiaki rarely cooked, and never had Access help him.

"What are we cooking today?" Fin asked, stretching.

"Well, here's the plan: Access, I want you to go in the living room where Chiaki is. Right now he's telling Miyako about Sinbad," I was saying until Access interrupted me.

"Then why aren't you in there?"

"Because he's talking about one of the few subjects I know I wouldn't be much help on. He's telling her about…Fin," I said, looking down for a moment. When I started thinking about it, the whole reason I had met Chiaki was because Fin had been possessed. I should have been very thankful that the events played out like they did, but still, it hurt when I thought of Fin being possessed.

I took a deep breath, and then looked up saying, "So me and Fin are going to cook breakfast, and I want you to help Chiaki tell the story. Only interrupt when you absolutely have to though, because Chiaki needs to get through to Miyako. If you keep diverting his attention, then he won't be as effective. He needs to get through to Miyako. He has too." I said, whispering the last part to myself.

Fin flew over to me and hugged my neck as best as she could. "I'm sorry, Maron. It's really blurry to me after I left with the chest pieces, but from what I can remember I was really mean to everyone!" She said while sobbing a little. I patted her back as we both tried to calm down.

"Gotcha! Kuro-Tenshi, Access Time at your service," Access said while bowing. Fin and I giggled for a moment before Access smiled and flew off. He landed on Chiaki's shoulder, right next to his ear. He started whispering something and Chiaki nodded slightly.

_I wonder how it's going…_I thought to myself. Fin then asked, "Eggs and bacon today?"

I replied, "Oh, that sounds really good. Let me open the fridge and get the eggs and bacon."

I walked over to the fridge and got about eight eggs out and a whole package of bacon. "Hey Fin, do you think you and Access can eat a whole egg?" I asked, going over the egg count in my mind.

"I think so," Fin responded.

"Let's see here, two eggs for me, two for Miyako, three for Chiaki, and one for you and Access. Yep, I was right! We need eight eggs. Fin, can you get me a fork?" I asked, she nodded and went to grab a fork while I grabbed a bowl and started cracking the eggs into it.

About thirty minutes later, I told Fin to go ask Access what the status of the conversation was. I didn't want to interrupt Chiaki and Miyako if they were just starting. If I had to, I would bring the breakfast out and then eat on the balcony with Fin.

Fin came flying back about a minute later and said, "Access says about five more minutes and they should be done. We can go ahead and set the table and stuff to pass the time."

"Yeah, let's go ahead and do that. I'll get the milk and orange juice onto the counter and grab the glasses, so will you set the forks and spoons out for me, Fin?" I asked. Fin nodded and started getting a fork and spoon per trip.

Soon, the table was set and I saw Chiaki walking in. Very quickly I realized that Miyako was not with him. "Where's—," was all I said as Chiaki put his finger to his mouth, and pointed to my room. I nodded and walked in there with Chiaki following me.

"Take her breakfast to her and let her sit there for a while. She started crying, and I don't think that she wants you to see her like that. She kept trying to turn away from me when a teardrop fell. Maybe you could talk to her while I go change clothes. I'll be back in a minute, okay?" Chiaki said. I nodded an "okay" and started walking to Miyako while Chiaki jumped over my balcony to change. He'd come back a little later.

"Hey, Miyako," I said quietly. I walked slowly over to her. Miyako's back was turned away and I could see her shaking every once in a while. I slowly walked up to her and hugged her from behind.

"I…shouldn't … be crying…should I?" Miyako asked while sniffling.

"It depends on what you're crying about," I replied, sitting down beside her looking straight ahead.

"What you had to go through… I never was there… to comfort you… like I should have been… And then I tried to kill you multiple times… I don't mean with the traps; I mean when I was possessed. Chiaki said that I was possessed more than once, but I just don't remember it. Then with what Chiaki said about your friend Fin…" Miyako said. Geez, I wanted to make it out of this conversation without crying too.

"I knew I shouldn't have left you with him. I didn't want him to tell you so much in one day, Miyako. I…I'm just not strong enough to talk about Fin yet. It's been too soon. Chiaki… Chiaki is good for me. I need someone who won't beat around the bush, someone who will tell me the problem straight-out without trying to avoid it. But Miyako, he can be insensitive in that way. He doesn't mean it; it's how he is. You should have seen me when _I_ found out that he was Sinbad," I said. Miyako tensed up a little, at the mention of "Sinbad."

"Well, actually, you did. Remember when Chiaki and I wouldn't even talk to each other about a month or two ago? I had just found out. I didn't know **why** he was Sinbad, but I had been told by Fin that he was the Devil's advocate, that he was the one bringing the demons to Earth." I paused a moment to shake my head a little, before resuming.

"It was kind of ironic then that **I** was the one helping the Devil, and that **he** was the one helping God. It took awhile, Miyako, to forgive him. He would sit there and wouldn't come to school the next day because he couldn't move, and yet the second I sent a notice card out, he forced himself to go also, even if he was in no condition to go.

At the beginning, we weren't the best of friends as 'Maron' and 'Chiaki.' But that was nothing to the rivalry we had as 'Jeanne' and 'Sinbad.' We both played dirty, him more so than me of course, but somewhere along the way I didn't notice that slowly Sinbad started saving me more than 'Checkmating.' Instead of listening to my heart when it said that Chiaki **did** love me, I ignored it and said that he had lied to me, that he had only wanted to use me. Slowly, very slowly at that, I started to believe Chiaki again. It wasn't easy, but after the 10th time he saved me, I was kind of forced to believe him," I said.

"I understand if you can't trust me or Chiaki right now. I get it. I've been through it myself. But, Chiaki is a good person. He's a little blunt, very perverted, and a jerk, but he's also very protective and dedicated. I mean I pushed him as far away as I could get, and he was like a yo-yo. He kept coming back," I finally finished. Never once during my "little" speech did I turn to look at Miyako. I could tell the whole time that she was looking at me though. I guess that was one of the things I learned when I became a Kaitou.

"Do you think…that I'm over reacting, Maron?" Miyako asked. She sounded so desperate, yet so curious.

"I think…that you should come and eat your eggs before they're too cold and you have to run over to your house to get more," I finished saying with a smile.

"Okay," Miyako said, and started walking to the direction of the table when I pulled her back to the bathroom.

I then said, "Here, fix yourself up first. I'll go put your eggs on a plate for you." She nodded and I left her to go to the kitchen and see how everything was going.

"How is she?" I heard Chiaki ask as he walked silently through my living room. That was also something that just happened when a person became a kaitou I guess. A person just learned how to walk quietly out of habit.

"She's in the bathroom right now. You were too blunt with her, I think. I probably should have been the one to tell her, not you," I was saying until I felt arms around my shoulders, embracing me in a hug.

"Chiaki, come on. I **need** to finish breakfast," I pleaded. He didn't move. "Please?" I asked. I wasn't in the mood to fight with him right now.

"I wonder if we just shouldn't have told her," Chiaki said, voice low.

"I think you told her too much, too fast, and knowing you, too straight forward. Also, people suspected that I was Jeanne, but not one person suspected that you were Sinbad. If you think about it, my natural personality is more like Jeanne's than yours is like Sinbad's. Also, I guess that cloth worked because you heard the class more than once say that I looked like Jeanne, but never once did they say that you looked like Sinbad, even though my change was more drastic. Then again," I said, smile creeping onto my face for what I was about to say, "Jeanne **is** more popular than Sinbad."

That caught his attention. He looked up saying, "I think it's what she wears, personally. I mean, let's look at her first kaitou outfit from a guy's point of view," Chiaki began. I started to blush and almost slapped him once again. "Long v-neck top, **very** short red miniskirt, knee boots, that's enough to draw a fan base right there. Let alone the ditzy attitude you have as Jeanne."

My hand was so close to his face that it wasn't funny. However, Fin beat me to it as she kicked him in the neck saying, "Don't think about my Maron like that, you pervert!"

I had to giggle. I just had to. I wish I had a camera right then because his expression was so funny. It looked like a cross between confused and just down right floored. "Anyways, you **do** have one faithful follower. After all, Iinchou vowed to catch Sinbad for me. I wonder if I should tell him I've already caught Sinbad?" I stated and then smiled innocently as I asked the last part.

"I'd like to see him catch Sinbad. Or even you for that matter. You haven't done it yet, Miss Kaitou Jeanne," Chiaki said, smiling as he used the opposite of the nickname that I had used for him last night.

"Yes, yes. Why don't you pour me some orange juice, see what Fin and Access want to drink, and get yourself something to drink. I'm going to go check on Miyako, who you so lovingly tore to pieces," I responded, walking towards the bathroom.

"Not on purpose!" He yelled back. I shook my head for a moment to wipe the smile off my face. I didn't want go in there smiling about something Chiaki said, not when he was currently on Miyako's blacklist.

"Hey Miyako, you ready?" I asked softly as I knocked on the door and then opened it. She closed her eyes for a moment and then opened them, taking a deep breath while walking forward.

"Yeah!" Miyako said, walking past me.

The conversation at breakfast was uncomfortable to say the least. I sat on the left side with Chiaki beside me as always, and Miyako across from me. Fin and Access were sitting on the table. Barely anyone said a word. I heard Access say, "Geez! I might as well go sit next to a wall, it might be friendlier!"

Chiaki only rolled his eyes and said, "Get over it, Access."

I couldn't help but smile at Access's reaction of going behind Chiaki and pretending to strangle himself. "Access," I muttered, causing Chiaki to turn around. One **very** mean death glare fixed all of Access's needs as he flew off with Fin.

"He was just trying to help, Chiaki," I tried to explain. Miyako looked confused, but she also looked like she wasn't going to admit it in front of Chiaki right now.

Chiaki took a piece of bacon and put it in his mouth and then said, "I know."

"Maron, I'm going to change clothes," Miyako said, putting her plate into the sink and walking out to the hall outside my apartment after she was done eating. She then added, "I won't tell anyone, but only because **Maron** asked me not to." Next she closed the door.

"That could have gone better," I muttered. Chiaki looked like he was about to go over to his apartment from my balcony when I said, "Where do you think you're going? You're helping me clean up!"

"Aw, darn! I was caught!" Chiaki said, pretending like he was caught red-handed stealing or something, wait that was a bad comparison.

It was amazing how the atmosphere immediately cleared up after Miyako left. The same thing probably would have happened if Chiaki had left Miyako and me though. They were just two very stubborn people. They would come around though.

"Hey Maron, you should be lucky today is Saturday. We haven't had many nights where our 'work' wasn't on a night where we had to go to school the next day, or in this case, we only missed a day and a half," Chiaki finished, grinning like, well, Chiaki.

"Hmm. So, when are you going to try and make up with Miyako?" I asked, pausing from where I was cleaning dishes to look at him. He was rinsing and putting away the dishes that I finished.

"Umm? When we go to college?" Chiaki asked, with fake hope.

"Wrong answer!" I responded back.

"You two are both stubborn. You know that?" I asked, though it really wasn't a question.

I had to smile when Chiaki replied saying, "Oh, Miyako and I aren't the only stubborn ones. I know a certain brown haired girl who is also very stubborn."

"Ha-ha. We're all laughing," I responded, though I was smiling too. Soon after, all the dishes were put away and I walked over to the couch, turning on the TV in the process.

"Yet another piece of art was stolen by either Kaitou Jeanne or Kaitou Sinbad. We are currently not sure which, but one of the two kaitous stole the painting, 'Dazzling Beauty,' by Aika Tangig last night," the news reporter finished.

"Why are you always first when we're announced?" Chiaki asked, pretending to be mad.

"They choose the better thief first, of course," I responded playfully.

"Then why are you first?" He asked, cocky grin in place and ready to argue.

"Because—," was all I was able to say before I heard Miyako beating at my door yelling, "Maron! Open up! Please! Hurry!" I looked over at Chiaki and then ran to the door.

As soon as I opened the door, Miyako pushed herself in and slammed the door shut. Miyako looked on the verge of tears. She shook her head and said, "Something's wrong. My mom… My mom started yelling all the sudden, like she was in pain, and then fainted. When she woke up… She… She started acting like Dad did that one time. She was starting to act really violent. She… She tried to hit me when I asked if she was okay."

"Miyako," was all I could say.

Before I could say any words of comfort, Chiaki asked, straight to the point as he always was when dealing with Demons, "Miyako, is your door unlocked?" Miyako nodded her head, silently saying "yes" to which Chiaki said, "Maron, go ahead," opening my apartment door for me.

I started walking forward, and as soon as I was to Miyako's apartment door, my Petit Claire started going off. I didn't even have to go in like I thought I would. Chiaki, who still had the door propped open, sighed.

"Fin!" I called as I walked back into my own apartment.

I saw the green ball come flying to me, as she said suddenly, "I smell a demon! Where is it?"

I then replied, "I need a notice card sent to Miyako's mom. Miyako, is there any new art that your family recently bought?" I asked. I realized that I was being like Chiaki, I was being too straightforward with her right now, but I needed to know. The longer we waited, the harder the job would be.

"Yeah… Mom saw a painting of flowers and bought it yesterday. Why?" Miyako responded, looking at me with a confused expression on her face.

"Fin. Send the card for 10 tonight," I said.

Fin nodded and Access flew in saying, "What's going on? Wait a minute; one of you has been near a demon! Sinbad, where have you been?!"

Chiaki just sighed. I couldn't help but giggle at Access. Even if it wasn't exactly the best time to do so, Access always did bring humor to our group.

"Access, go get Fin to fill you in while you send the notice with her. Remember, it's—"

"—I'll steal the painting Jeanne has her heart set on," Chiaki said as he smirked, interrupting me.

"Ha, you're so funny," I responded. "But seriously, two jobs in two days? I feel like I'm not getting paid enough," I responded jokingly. Chiaki nodded and pointed his head down to Miyako, who was sitting on my couch with her head down. It looked like she was crying slightly.

"Miyako," I said as I walked over to her.

"This is pretty standard for you guys, huh?" She said, wiping her eyes with her green sleeve.

"I tell you what. Why don't we go to lunch? Chiaki will buy!" I said, standing up and smiling.

I watched Chiaki look at me for a moment, as if debating whether or not to respond back when he nodded a "gotcha," saying that he understood that I was trying to cheer Miyako up, and said, "Why do I have to buy? I paid last night **and** the night before!"

"Because, it would be wrong for a **gentleman** to let the ladies buy," I responded. I had my hands on my hips.

"Who says that I'm a gentleman?" Chiaki responded, cocky smile back.

"You are today, Mister Kaitou—," was all I said before Chiaki shook his head.

He said, rather annoyed, might I add, "Don't you **dare** start this again!"

"Aww, why not, 'Sinny'?" I responded. The **one** way to **always** get under Chiaki's skin: start making nicknames for his name or his kaitou name. In fact, I didn't know of many people who could walk away unharmed that doing that one little thing. I was just lucky.

"Don't…you…start," Chiaki said. I think he was putting so much effort into glaring at me that he was having trouble putting the sentence together.

" 'Sinny?' " Miyako asked, looking to Chiaki. I think she caught what it was a nickname about because she looked like she was trying not to laugh while saying it.

"It's what I call Chiaki when he's bad. It's a shorter, cuter, and better version of 'Sinbad.' I prefer it, but for some strange reason Chiaki hates it," I said smiling.

"I could tell her all the embarrassing stuff you did as Jeanne," Chiaki threatened.

"And I have far more stuff on you as Sinbad. I had a little angel tell me some **really** good blackmail, you see," I finished, a slightly evil grin on my face. I wanted to flat out laugh when I saw Chiaki's expression after I said the last part.

"I'm gonna **kill** Access! What did he tell you?!" Chiaki said, really riled up now.

"I won't tell her right this second if you pay for lunch!" I responded, smiling innocently.

He sighed then replied, "You win. Let me get my wallet out of my apartment."

I softly whispered to Miyako, "Of course I won," to which Chiaki turned around and glared at me for a moment.

"Maron. How can you treat this so casually? Aren't you worried at all about what will happen when you go later tonight?" Miyako asked.

"Miyako, I've done this way more times than what was reported to the police. I have Chiaki who will help me and make his ego bigger in the process. I also have Fin and Access to help me. You shouldn't underestimate Sinbad; you should see the stuff he keeps in this coat! There's a reason why it's so stiff," after saying the last sentence, I had to chuckle.

I noticed Chiaki was outside the door waiting, by the small tap on the door. I understood what he was saying, "Take you time talking to her, I'm out here waiting when you're ready."

I must have zoned out for a moment while noticing, because Miyako was waving her hands in my face the next moment.

"Huh?" I said, automatically moving my head back away from her hand, which was waving in front of me.

"I said, 'I think Chiaki's ready now.' Geez Maron! Don't doze off on me in the middle of a conversation!" Miyako finished, having her normal bossy tone back.

"Right, right," I said walking away to put my boots on. I grabbed my red ones and we were off again.

"So where would the ladies like to eat?" Chiaki asked as we rode our elevator down.

"What about that new restaurant, the 'Golden Diner.' I heard it was pretty good," Miyako responded.

"Nope. Ate there last night," Chiaki responded.

"It was pretty good too. Hey! What about that place that's just around the corner? What's it called? Umm…Miyako, you know, that place where we ate lunch with Iinchou that one time! It was fairly good that one time," I said.

"I don't remember either, but that's fine with me," Miyako said as Chiaki kept walking then said, "That's fine."

I think that Chiaki was starting to try and go over the theft tonight in his head again. I mostly thought this because he was distancing himself again.

"You're doing it again," I said. I then went and snapped my fingers in front of his brown eyes.

He then focused in at my fingers and tried to examine what was so close to his face. "You know, it's pretty dangerous to do that to someone with our reflexes," he said as he successfully backed his head away while taking a few steps back.

"You were zoning again. If you worry again like last night, I'll be driven insane!" I said, making perfect eye contact with the person I was talking to.

"Yeah, yeah. I understand," Chiaki said, though it was half-hearted.

"What?" Miyako asked. She watched as Chiaki kept walking with his hands in his pockets while I glared at him.

"Just come on. I'll tell you while we're walking," I said, walking forward.

Miyako jogged a little to catch up with me as I continued walking. I started explaining and said, "You see, last night after we left to go to 'work', as we call it, Chiaki basically stopped talking. The whole night up to five minutes before the theft, I probably got 50 words from him at most. I know what he's doing, and it's what I **should** be doing, but geez! It makes me annoyed when he starts zoning like he does!" I finished.

"You should be glad that I like to plan ahead. It's saved you when you dart into things more than a couple of times, you know," Chiaki stated as he turned around.

"Nah! I just wanted to let you show off," I finished smiling. He rolled his eyes and continued walking to our destination.

We walked for about three more minutes before we arrived. Truthfully, neither Chiaki nor I said a word, so Miyako probably thought the atmosphere was thicker than it was. Really, Chiaki and I were thinking of the things that might become problematic during our theft tonight.

We soon sat down outside because it was a bright day, and waited for a waiter or waitress to come get our orders.

Very soon, a girl who looked to be about a year older than us came out and said, "What would everyone like to drink?" Our waitress, Salana, according to the nametag she was wearing, asked.

"Umm, a Dr. Pepper, please!" I said. Chiaki then responded, "Coke," and Miyako finished up by saying, "Sprite."

"Okay, I'll get those for everyone. I'll be back in a minute!" Our waitress said.

"Is anyone actually going to eat?" I asked, because we had just finished breakfast about an hour and a half ago.

"I'm not," Chiaki responded, again, half-heartily. I sighed and gave up any attempt at a conversation. Miyako just shook her head saying "no." I then turned around to look at the time. It was currently 3:30 in the afternoon. That meant that in six and a half hours, Chiaki and I would be sealing yet another demon.

"And you complain to me about zoning out," I heard a sarcastic voice say. Chiaki was apparently in a talkative mood right then because of the fact that he actually started a conversation.

"I was acting like you do and worrying about time," I responded, smiling.

"Hey Miyako, has that beeper thing gone off yet to say that Jeanne and Sinbad have sent notices?" I asked. I hadn't heard it, but they should have been seen by now.

"I made Dad go down to the 'Jeanne special task-force room' with the rest of the team and clean it. I made sure to take everything away from them that would distract them from their goal. It was worse than that one time we went in there while Dad went to the main office! They need to clean that room up! So in other words, they don't know anything yet so they haven't paged me," Miyako finished.

"Worse?" was all I was able to say.

Miyako responded by saying, "Yes. Far worse. I think someone emptied a garbage truck in there!"

"Wow," I muttered. About that time our drinks came. Chiaki told the waitress that the drinks would be all we wanted and then we settled back into silence. After we finished our drinks, it was 4:15.

We started walking. Just enjoying ourselves, as normal teenagers do. The only problem was that out of the three of us, Miyako was the most normal. And Miyako wasn't exactly what most people would call "normal" to begin with.

"Well, I guess it's time to head home," I said sighing. I started walking in the direction of the apartment complex with Chiaki and Miyako following me. The rest of the walk was fairly silent as Chiaki and I were planning out what to do, which left Miyako with no one to talk to.

As we rode the elevator up, Miyako asked, "Hey, is it okay if I stay with you, Maron? I don't…I don't want to go home right now."

I smiled and said, "Sure, but you can't come in the room that we're planning in! That would give you too much of a head start."

"I don't think I'm doing it tonight. I don't even want to try and stop you two tonight, even if the chance that you two will get past me is low or not," Miyako said, looking down.

"Still, if you hear how we plan, you might get a better idea of how to stop us in the future. I'm with Maron, you can stay, just not in the room we're in," Chiaki said.

Miyako nodded and it was decided that Chiaki and I would stay in the living room and Miyako would stay in the bedroom.

I unlocked my door as we all walked in. I suddenly saw two floating balls, one green and one purple, come dashing out.

"Maron! Where were you?! You left without telling us!" Fin said.

"Sinbad! How many times have I told you not to leave me alone without telling me?!" Access said, both angels fuming.

At this, Chiaki and I looked to each other. Chiaki commented first though. "Access. If I have to tell you **one** more time that it's CHI-A-KI, I will not feed you for a week! You'll have to beg Maron or Fin for food," Chiaki said, fuming about as much as the two angels now.

"Um?" Miyako asked. Since she couldn't see our angelic friends yelling at us, she had no clue what caused the sudden atmospheric change.

"We got in trouble for leaving without telling Access or Fin," I explained. Miyako nodded then asked, whispering, "What's wrong with him?" She pointed to Chiaki.

I smiled for a moment, though I didn't laugh. I'd fear for my life if I did right now. I then replied, whispering back to her, "Access calls Chiaki 'Sinbad' all the time, even when he's 'Chiaki.' Needless to say, this **really** gets on Chiaki's nerves."

"Oh," was all Miyako said. She soon turned to go to my room, most likely to sleep, as she was looking tired.

I watched as she closed the door. I sat down on a couch afterwards.

"Poor Miyako. Now both of her parents have been possessed," I thought aloud.

"All three of them have been possessed now. Really, when you think about it, all of our parents have been possessed. My dad, your parents, and now Miyako and her parents," Chiaki responded.

"Yeah. Iinchou too," I said sadly.

"Twice," Chiaki commented smiling.

"Right. Hopefully Iinchou's done being possessed," I said, trying to cheer up the mood as well.

"Nah. One more time that way I can officially beat the demon up. After all, you 'checkmated' both demons, but I would have liked to land a couple of punches or so on the demon myself," Chiaki replied, confident smirk on his lips.

"Aw! Don't hurt Iinchou just because he gets possessed easily!" I responded.

Chiaki shook his head and then replied, "If you say so. Anyway, how are we going to do this? Stealing a painting from the police chief's wife won't be easy."

"Well, Uncle—," was all I said before Chiaki asked, "'Uncle?'

I then replied back saying, "That's what I call Miyako's dad. He's a lot like a uncle to me."

"Oh, okay. What were you saying?" Chiaki asked again.

"I don't know if Uncle will be there. If that place is as bad as Miyako said it was, then he might not be back until tomorrow. That would rule the police out, but we would still have to worry about the demon," I said. Chiaki nodded at this in agreement.

That was what we did for the next hour and a half. We made strategies, over, and over, and over again.

"Chiaki. I'm **done.** Game over. I'm **tired** of planning. If I go through **one** more scenario, then you're doing this one **alone**," I said, having to threaten the blue-haired boy.

"Okay, okay. You win. I just think things could go really wrong because of the fact that the theft is happening next door. Anyway, go wake Miyako up, we'll get something to eat then start 'work'," Chiaki said, giving up on me.

"Okay," I said, getting up from my position and stretching. I then walked over to the door and opened it up. Miyako was sitting on my bed, looking as if she had just woken up.

"Uh, Maron. What time is it?" She said, while rubbing hey eyes.

"Time to get up!" I said smiling. I then quickly added, more from the look she gave me than anything, "6 pm. Only four more hours, so wake up. We're all eating leftovers unless you want to go out and get something or go home and eat something."

"I'll eat leftovers," Miyako responded, slowly getting up off my bed and walking towards the living room where Chiaki was still examining our homemade blueprints of the Todoiji Residence.

"Chiaki! Put those away!" I yelled. I saw him turn around and put them into a blue binder. Afterwards, he put the lock back on it.

"What's in there?" Miyako asked, looking at the notebook.

"Notes on tonight's assignment. You can't see them—," Chiaki said until I interrupted him.

"Not that you would want to. I wouldn't care if I never saw those things again." Chiaki glared at me.

"What? I wouldn't," I replied. Chiaki rolled his eyes, a very Sinbad-like gesture, and took the binder to the counter, where he left it.

"I call pizza with Fin and Access!" I said. The little purple and green balls came flying to me as I said, "Fin! Access! Come pick out how much pizza you want!"

They decided that one whole piece would be fine between the two of them. That left four pieces. I grabbed two then said, "There's two pieces of pizza left if anybody wants any!"

Miyako replied, "I get them in a minute."

Chiaki ended up getting the week-old leftover spaghetti. "I get to eat what Maron was eating... Hmm, that's like a kiss, isn't it?" He said while heating it up. I beat Fin to the response this time saying, "Can it, **Sinny.**" He quieted down for a moment.

"He just doesn't care for that name, does he?" Miyako asked. I shook my head as Chiaki was talking to Access about something. A few minutes later everything was heated up and we sat down in the same positions as we did earlier today, only in a much more comfortable atmosphere.

Because everything was a left over, there were no dishes to be done, so we were able to skip that. Cleaning the kitchen back up took about thirty minutes because we kept goofing off. It was fun though.

"An hour until notice time," Chiaki said. I nodded and sighed. It had been a good dinner, almost a "normal" dinner, if dinner between two angels and three teenagers could be called normal.

I opened the balcony door up and then told Miyako, "Time for us to go to work! Cya, Miyako!" I said as I jumped off the balcony.

"Maron… **Maron!**" Miyako yelled after me. I guess I should have told her that this was normal for me to do while transforming. Oops.

"She's fine. Later, Miyako," I heard Chiaki yell. He followed the same path that I took as he said, "Shut the door for us!"

"Strong and serious,

Matchless and marvelous,

Energetic and courageous!"

I quietly said my words of encouragement as I made myself transform into the image of "Kaitou Jeanne." When I landed, I saw Sinbad instead of Chiaki, who was once again tying the facemask on.

"You have to do that **every** time?" I asked.

He nodded and said, "Yeah, now you see why I didn't have it on while it was just you and I."

I waited for him to finish tying it on before I started running ahead to the front of our apartment complex. He ran along side me as we ran up the stairs and he pick-locked the Todaiji's apartment door. Slowly the door opened, and both Sinbad and myself looked up ahead to see if anything was going to charge us.

I saw Access and Fin fly over to us as I held my Petit Claire up, looking for where the source increased. I slowly walked to the kitchen, where the source was the strongest, and when we arrived, I gasped.

There, tied to a chair, was Miyako. She was gagged, and had her hands and feet tied behind her in the chair she was in.

"Welcome! You're late to the parrrtyy!" The demon-slurred voice said.

Chiaki, or rather, Sinbad said, "Jeanne! Take the demon! I'll get Miyako!" I nodded then frowned as the demon sent an energy blow to me. The green barrier shielded me, but I was not fast enough as the demon then took it's own form and grabbed Miyako, who had just been untied, by the neck.

"Ma…ron…He…lp…" Miyako whimpered. I was surprised that she was still conscious.

"Miyako!" I yelled. Sinbad threw his boomerang and cut the part of the hand off that had Miyako. I ran over to her, and stood in front.

"Jeanne! DIE!" The demon yelled. I smirked as the green barrier once again protected me. I suddenly realized a problem. "Sinbad! Which do we Checkmate? The painting or the demon?" I whispered to him. We were back-to-back with Miyako in between us. It was the best way to protect her.

"Both. I'll get the painting, you get the demon!" He said confidently. I smirked with him at this.

"_In the name of God…_

_You, a Demon, born in darkness…_

_I seal you here!"_ I said, getting ready for it. Sinbad walked over to where I was, and looked at me.

"_**CHECKMATE!**_" We both yelled, letting the demon slowly become covered in roses, as the painting became a blank canvas. I pulled my ribbon back with the chess piece and said, "Recovery Complete."

Sinbad manually walked up and grabbed his own piece.

I suddenly heard coughing behind me as I remembered: Miyako was hurt!

"Miyako!" I said as I ran towards her. Sinbad went and picked up Miyako's mom and placed her on the couch as I started trying to lift her up.

"Jeanne…" Sinbad said as he walked towards me. I didn't move. Sinbad tried again, "Maron, move so that I can pick her up." I moved slowly, allowing Sinbad to pick her up as he walked over to my apartment door, which was unlocked. I opened the door and the three of us walked inside.

"Maron…Chiaki…Thanks…" Miyako said before she passed out.

"I'm surprised she lasted this long," Chiaki commented. Literally, it was Chiaki. He had de-transformed when he put Miyako on my couch. I followed him.

"That was too close, Chiaki," I commented as I began to sob on him. Silently, he began to pat the back of my hair, which had a soothing feeling. He soon sat down on the couch as I sat on his lap and cried for about fifteen minutes before Chiaki said anything.

"Maron, it's okay. She's fine now," Chiaki tried. I soon slowed my crying down, but didn't move, as I was comfortable, secure in Chiaki's arms. So, before I noticed, I fell asleep on Chiaki.

* * *


	4. A Day Off? I Think Not!

**Series:** Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne  
**Rating:** T  
**By:** MewSsomsie  
**Beta-ed by:** Argent-Allure  
**Summary:**Even after Maron helped Fin, her battles weren't over yet. The 'Final Battle at the Ice Castle' was only the beginning. The demons that were still on Earth are now coming after Maron with everything they've got. Maron must now be stronger than ever, or else everything she does will be in vain, and everyone she loves will be in danger.**  
Disclaimer:** I don't own Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne.  
**Chapter: **4 "A Day Off? I Think Not!"

* * *

I slowly started moving, immediately realizing that I wasn't on my own bed. While my mind sorted out where I was, I opened my eyes… to discover what that lump was beneath me was.

Chiaki was sleeping with his feet on the floor and his head propped up on the top cushion. I found myself lying across him with my head on an armrest, my butt on his lap, and my legs across the rest of the couch.

"Mmmm," I heard him mumble as he started to get up. He then opened his eyes to see me looking right at him. He was about to comment on our sleeping position, when Access suddenly landed on my stomach.

"You two crashed last night! We tried to wake both of you up, but neither one of you would wake up!" Access said while looking at Chiaki.

I moved so that I was now sitting _beside_ Chiaki, as opposed to _on top_ of him as I had been as I asked, "How did we end up like that anyway?"

Chiaki stood up and stretched, saying, "I think it happened when you fell asleep on me after last night's job."

This was one of Chiaki's "nicer" moments. In other words, he wasn't bringing up the fact that I fell asleep on him crying. As I looked over to Miyako, who had slept on the other couch last night, I suddenly remembered **why** I had been crying.

I stood up without my mind fully realizing what I was doing, and started walking over to where Miyako was on the other couch. I tried to examine her, but Chiaki came up behind me and interrupted my thinking.

"How's she going to explain the marks around her neck?" Chiaki asked. I frowned as I looked over to Miyako. She was still in her clothes from last night, like Chiaki and me. That meant that she was still wearing her "thief-catching" clothes. Her neck, wrists, and ankles had imprints in the places where she had been tied up and held by her neck. Other than those things though, she looked perfectly fine.

"Maybe I can cover them up with make-up?" I suggested.

Chiaki shook his head saying, "But what if it washes off?"

I was quiet a moment before I replied, "Then Miyako will have to re-apply it. I don't see any way of getting the marks to disappear by the end of the day."

"That might work for strangers but, what about her parents? How is she going to explain the marks to her mom or dad if they see them?" Chiaki continued questioning.

"I dunno. She can't exactly say, 'Well Mom, you were possessed by a demon so Chiaki and Maron, as Sinbad and Jeanne, came and sealed the demon away. You had tied me up to use as bait, so that's where I got these marks from.' That wouldn't exactly work," I responded sarcastically.

"Wouldn't it make things less complicated through," Chiaki said jokingly.

"Yeah, go tell everyone that you're Sinbad, the infamous and wanted kaitou, but that you're actually 'stealing the priceless artworks for the good of everyone.' I'd like to see their expressions as you're put in jail," I responded, furthering the joke.

"But 'Jeanne **always** goes first,' remember?" He responded, using my words from yesterday.

"No, I said that she's always first when both names are mentioned. I didn't say a thing about when **Sinbad** gets careless," I finished. He just sighed and shook his head.

"I'm going to go change clothes then take a shower, and before you ask, no you are not allowed in," I added, to which Chiaki made a face putting on a mischievous smile a few seconds later. "And Access, video cameras, and/or cameras aren't allowed either," I continued, causing Chiaki's smile to drop. "So be a good boy, for once, and watch Miyako for me. I'll be out in about 30 minutes," I finished. I had to stop at certain points in my instructions to beat all the loopholes out of Chiaki's mind.

I then went into my room and locked the door. I knew Chiaki could picklock it quite easily, but I also knew that I would probably be able to hear him picklock it if he did. I grabbed one of the few pieces of clothes left that weren't dirty and went into the shower. Apparently, when I got out I needed to do laundry.

Miyako POV >> >

"Chiaki?" I mumbled as I looked up to see what looked like Chiaki talking to himself.

He was saying, "Yeah, yeah. Shut up, Access," then after a moment of silence he said, "You did **what**?! Where is it?!" At that he seemed to grab at something in thin air. It seems like he managed to catch something too because his hand didn't completely close. It did look like he **wanted **to close his fist completely though. He then brought his hand, still in a light fist, to his face and said, "Where is it?" After he apparently didn't get the answer he wanted, he took whatever "object" was in his hand and started to walk away.

"_I wonder if that's one of the 'angels'?_" I thought to myself.

I then saw Chiaki empty out Maron's candy jar, putting the candy in a cup, and then open the jar up as he put his hand in it and then slammed it shut. "Stupid Access," I heard him say to himself.

After things quieted down, I started looking at my surroundings. I noticed that the water was running, which probably meant that Maron was in the shower. I then saw Chiaki bring a couple candy pieces over with a glass of milk. As he sat down, he looked down at me and saw that I was now awake.

"Up now?" He asked. I nodded. I didn't really know how to act in front of Chiaki right now. He had saved me twice last night and then carried me back into Maron's apartment after I had yelled at him earlier, but the thing that I yelled at him about was what had enabled him to save me.

"Sorry," I whispered, as he was reaching for the remote to the TV. However, once I said something, he stopped moving to instead, lean back and start listening to what I had to say. "I'm sorry about yesterday. I overreacted," I finished.

I saw a small, slightly cocky grin appear on his face as he said, "Nah, you were so much better than Maron. Trust me. She was more than a 'little' mad at me."

"What do you mean?" I asked, curious.

"Well, let's just say that after she tore the ring I gave her off, she slapped me, and then started running home crying. She wouldn't talk to me for about a month after that and refused to answer the door or phone," he finished, smiling sadly. His smile was cocky yet, sad.

"She slapped you?" I asked. I had **never** heard of Maron **slapping** anyone. **Ever**. No matter how mad she was. Sure she **almost** slapped a couple of people, mainly Chiaki, a couple of times, but she never actually did it. Not when I was around, anyway.

"Which time. I think she has slapped me four—no, five—uh, maybe six times already. It depends on whether you count me as Sinbad separately or not. She slapped me twice that day though. I kept dodging the attacks, so the hit was instead destroying the church behind me. She got mad that the church was going to collapse, and then slapped me. About 20 minutes later, when my cheek was finally recovering, she found out that I was Sinbad and slapped me again," he said, sad smile still present, as he tried to joke about it.

Chiaki and Maron both acted the same way about the day Maron found out Chiaki was Sinbad. They both smiled, but they also both had sad expressions when talking about it.

"What were you just doing?" I asked. Looking over to the empty candy jar, I added, "And why is that jar shaking?"

Chiaki smiled as he said, "Access was bad. Angels aren't that strong physically. Especially since they're so small. Neither Access nor Fin can push that lid open, so Access is in there as punishment."

"Punishment? What did he do?" I asked.

Chiaki shook his head as he responded, "I don't even want to talk about it. I just need to find Maron's camera. I need to find it right now. **"**Oh, 'morning Fin,'" Chiaki said, taking his eyes off me to look at what looked like the table.

"Maron? She's in the shower. Better not go in there though. She told me that if either Access or me went in there, she'd personally design our tombstones," Chiaki finished. He shook his head as he turned and looked at the crystal jar that the angel was in.

"Going to talk yet?" Chiaki asked, leaning over to where the jar was. Apparently the angel didn't answer right because Chiaki then said, "CHI-A-KI! Geez, Access. Why did Maron get the nice angel?" He asked.

"What did he do this time?" Maron asked.

Maron POV >> >> 

"He took a picture of us while we were sleeping," Chiaki said. My eyes must have bulged out at this time because Chiaki then added, "Yeah…That's how I felt. He's in there for confinement until he tells us where he hid the camera that he took it with."

"But Access couldn't hold my camera alone, it's too heavy for him!" I said. I then saw a little green angel sneaking around the corner. I immediately went over, and grabbing Fin by the wings, asked, "You wouldn't happen to know anything, would you, Fin?"

She gulped and began trying to get away as I got a better hold on her. I then picked up the lid to the candy jar and put her in there with Access. "Chiaki, get me the tape please," I said. He looked at me with a "why?" look but went to get some anyway. When he came back, I tore off about a foot long piece and placed it from right below where the lid opened to the opposite side right below where the jar opened.

"In case Access and Fin manage to open it together," I said. Chiaki nodded as we watched our two angels give us mean looks.

"Hey, don't look at me that way! When you two tell us where the camera is, we'll let you out!" Chiaki said, grinning from ear to ear.

"And anything you break you have to pay for!" I added. I then picked the jar up and put in on the floor, that way they couldn't tip it off the table.

"Okay! Today is Sunday, so I have to clean up. Chiaki, quit walking towards the door, you're helping. Miyako, you can go home or help. I have to do laundry," I said; to which Chiaki started looking at me with his mischievous grin back, fully reaching his eyes. "I said that **I** had to do laundry. No Chiaki, you can't help with that. You can start dusting stuff off though. And if you leave, I'll come picklock **your** door for a change, and then drag you back," I finished.

"Can't I change too?" He asked, trying to make me feel guilty for making him help.

I gave in and sighed. "Five minutes. If you're not back by then, you're in trouble."

"Okay," he said as he walked through my balcony to his apartment.

"So, what'cha gonna do?" I asked Miyako.

She responded by saying, "I'll help over here for a while. Do you think we could cover this stuff up before I leave though?" She asked, pointing to her bruises.

I nodded and said, "Yeah, we'll bandage those up really quick. Before you leave, I want to try putting make up over them too, but right now, I want to actually bandage them up, so that the wounds can heal."

We walked over to my bathroom and I got out some disinfectant and ointment. I applied the disinfectant first, which didn't burn at all, to Miyako's pleasure. Then, I applied some ointment to her wrists first, and then I started on her ankles. After her ankles, I finished putting some on her neck, as I heard Chiaki come into the bathroom with us.

"I think all the bruises will be gone by the end of the week," he commented.

"Is this the 'doctor's' opinion?" I asked with a smile.

He didn't comment back as we both suddenly heard Access yell, "SINBAD! GET BACK IN HERE AND OPEN THIS UP!"

"I think he wants out," I commented.

Soon after, I heard a similar yell by Fin, "MARON! GET ME OUT OF HERE!"

I smiled and said, "Chiaki, finish helping Miyako. I'm going to see if our two friendly angels will tell us where the camera is now."

"Okay," he agreed.

I walked into the living room, and squatted down to the jar where Fin and Access were currently being held.

"Are we going to talk yet?" I asked, fiddling with the top of the jar.

"It's on top of the refrigerator!" Fin yelled. Access looked slightly upset that she told me, but recovered quickly, as I pulled over a chair and looked on top of the fridge.

"A-ha!" I exclaimed. I pulled the camera down and then yelled, "Chiaki! I got the camera!" He came running out to see the camera in my hands soon after.

"I guess we **should** let them out now, huh?" I asked.

Chiaki sighed and then replied, "Yeah, but it was so nice with Access quiet and all." To which he earned a death glare from Access. Slowly I started to undo the tape. I then opened the lid. As soon as I opened it, Fin and Access came flying out. Fin stretched and Access went over and glared face-to-face at Chiaki. Unfortunately for Access, his glare wasn't very threatening at all.

"Now Fin, come over here and help me. Access, go with Chiaki and help him. Miyako…um, I guess vacuum. Thanks guys!" I said, yelling the last part as I went into my room to gather up my dirty clothes so I could wash them.

I grabbed the clothes, opened the washing machine door, and then started putting clothes in. Fin measured out and dropped detergent in, when I was done putting the clothes in the machine.

Afterwards, I walked in to see everyone else finishing up. Miyako then said, "Maron, could you help me with the makeup. I think I'm going to go home now since we do have school tomorrow. Besides, I haven't really seen my parents in three days." I nodded and we both went into my bedroom as I got out the makeup that would hide the bruises.

"Maron, thanks for last night," Miyako commented. I smiled as I worked on her wrist.

"It's no problem. Actually…" I said, slowing down to a stop, as I started to look to the ground, "I feel bad that I got you involved again," I finished. I started working on her wrist again after saying that.

Miyako didn't say anything as Fin came in and told me, "Chiaki said to hurry up! He said that he's hungry!"

"What's Chiaki doing?" I asked, too busy applying makeup to Miyako's wrists to look up while talking to Fin.

"He's mopping your floor," Fin replied.

"Tell him to hold on, okay?" I asked. I decided that I **probably **had to feed him since he **was** working.

"Okay, Maron!" Fin replied.

"Who was that?" Miyako asked, looking at me.

"Fin. She was delivering a message from Chiaki," I responded, not looking up.

"Isn't she mad about you putting her in that jar?" Miyako asked.

I smiled again as I said, "Probably, but I imagine that Access will act out before Fin. Fin's used to me picking on her. I don't think Access is used to it. I guess Chiaki never does anything to Access."

"So she doesn't care?" Miyako asked again.

"No, more like she'll get me back later, when I least expect it," I responded.

"Oh," Miyako said.

After I finished putting the makeup on Miyako's wrists and neck, I said, "I'm not going to put it on your ankles because it would just rub off, which would leave marks on your socks. Don't get your neck or wrists wet because then you'll have to put the makeup back on."

"Alright. Thanks a lot! I'll be going now, Maron!" Miyako said as she started walking towards the door to her apartment. "Bye!" She yelled, as she closed the door.

"So, what do you want to eat?" I asked.

Chiaki smiled as he said, "How about an angel-sandwich?"

"What? Why?" I asked.

"Because a certain purple-haired angel thought that he could steal the camera back," Chiaki said.

"I wonder if he needs more time in the candy jar?" I asked, smiling. I could see Access trying to hide now.

"C'mon. Let's just find something to eat. After all, normal dinner time is only an hour away, so let's just eat dinner," I said.

"Yeah. So, what's for dinner tonight?" Chiaki asked.

"Well, why don't you go shopping with me and we can see," I said, smiling.

"Alright. Let me go get my shoes from my apartment," Chiaki said, as he walked over to my balcony. His door must have been locked with the key inside the apartment because it probably would have been a whole lot easier to just walk to the front door, open it, grab his shoes, and then come back out.

"_Oh well, Chiaki will be Chiaki," _I thought to myself.

I ran to a mirror and brushed my hair, which was almost dry now, before I went to put a pair of boots on.

"Fin! Access! Chiaki and I are going to the store! Keep outta trouble! Bye!" I yelled as I grabbed my keys and money. I then closed the door and saw that Chiaki was waiting by the elevator.

"Ready?" He asked. I nodded and we rode down together. As we stepped off the elevator, I went to check my mail. Chiaki saw what I was doing and waited for me by the doors.

"No chance to plant a letter today?" I asked. I was smiling, but the same feelings that came every time I opened an empty mailbox came still. I was a little sad, but I knew that Chiaki had been with me the whole day, so he wouldn't have had a chance to make a letter.

"Nope. Sorry," he responded, looking at me with his protective brown eyes. He could tell that I was a little depressed.

"Energetic and courageous! Matchless and marvelous! Right?" I said. I then looked back to Chiaki for a moment.

"Right," he responded, barely above a whisper, while smiling lightly.

We walked to the store side-by-side, enjoying the night and the silence. Just being in each other's company was enough sometimes.

"Remember that one time we met at the store, and how we ended up walking back home like this also?" Chiaki asked smiling.

"Oh yes. How could I not! Then Kanako-sensei walked up to us and said we looked like a couple! Geez! That was embarrassing! And after that, she made sure I had to work on the weekend!" I exclaimed.

"Right, right. And you blew my cover quite nicely just as I was starting work. I'll have to repay you for the trouble you caused me that day. I wasn't even able to get close to the painting thanks to you calling me a pervert," he said back.

"I call 'em like I see 'em!" I responded back again, skipping ahead as I heard Chiaki yell, "What's that suppose to mean?"

I eventually slowed down, and Chiaki caught up. Soon, we arrived at our destination.

"Ah! Just remembered! I gotta look for something here too! Right before we leave, remind me, okay?" Chiaki said as we entered the store.

"Okay. What are you going to look for?" I asked.

"It's a s-ec-ret," he finished, putting a finger to his mouth, as if he was telling his mouth to be silent.

"Whatever," I said. Even if I asked, Chiaki wouldn't tell me anyway. In fact, he would probably just tease me about it.

"So, what are you in the mood for?" I asked as we walked down the produce isle, basket in hand.

"Tacos sound good," he commented.

"That's good. Oh look! The tomatoes are on sale too!" I said, walking over and examining the tomatoes. I grabbed three for dinner as I walked over to the lettuce.

"Hey Chiaki, could you grab the cheese for me?" I asked, as I picked up a bag of lettuce and put it into my basket.

"Okay," he said as he walked over to where the cheese was and picked some up.

I then looked over my list for stuff I needed to get. I needed more shampoo and conditioner.

"Chiaki, I'm going to go pick up the other stuff I need. Go look for whatever you needed to get, okay?" I said as I looked over the items in the basket.

"Okay. I'll see you at the apartment, then?" He asked. I nodded, as he walked away. I then walked down to get the necessary items.

I grabbed shampoo and conditioner, and then started walking towards the checkout lane. I saw Chiaki walking around, but as soon as he saw me looking at him he looked back at me and shook his head, as if saying, "Nope, I'm waiting for you to leave."

I rolled my eyes at him as I proceeded to the shortest line at the checkout lanes. I paid for the items, and as I left the store, I saw Chiaki getting in line.

As I walked home, I saw Miyako out with her family.

"Hey! Miyako!" I yelled as I ran to them.

"Hello, Maron-chan," Miyako's mom, or as I normally called her, "Aunt," said.

"Ah! We were going to invite you over for dinner, Maron-chan, but I guess that you've already got dinner tonight," Miyako's dad, or "Uncle" said.

"Yeah. I just left the store too!" I responded.

"_Geez, if only I had waited thirty minutes!"_ I thought.

"Hey Maron, where's Chiaki?" Miyako asked.

"Still in the store. He had to get some 'top-secret' item that he couldn't tell me about. He even waited for me to leave before he got it!" I exclaimed, rolling my eyes.

"Well, you know that your birthday is coming up, right?" Miyako asked smiling.

A little light must have went off over my head because suddenly I realized why he was waiting for me to leave.

"He remembered. Off all the things he remembers, he remembers my birthday. Go figure," I said smiling. In my heart, I was practically dancing on the moon though.

"Anyway, Maron-chan, we have to go to the store now, so we'll see you later," "Aunt" said.

"See you tomorrow, Maron," Miyako said as they started walking in the opposite direction that I came from.

"I see you hiding behind me, Chiaki," I said as I watched a figure walk behind me, trying to stay out of my vision.

"Yeah, yeah. So, how's everything with Miyako?" He asked, still walking behind me.

"She's fine. Geez, hard to believe that this is our last week of school until the summer, isn't it?" I asked. A lot had happened this year.

"Yeah it is," he responded.

We walked the whole way home with him walking behind me. Neither of us talked, we just enjoyed being in each other's company again.

About a minute before we reached the apartment complex I said, "Hey Chiaki, could you get the groceries so that I can check my mailbox?"

"Okay," he said.

I turned around and handed the bags to him before I skipped ahead to check. I opened the mailbox door to an empty mailbox. I sighed.

"It's been a while, Maron-chan," I heard a voice say behind me. If I wasn't mistaken then it was….

"Iinchou?" I questioned.

"I don't see Naogya-kun anywhere, so this time, you're all mine," Iinchou said as the Petit Claire went off.

_Again?_ I thought.

I could feel his breath on me as he had me trapped against the mailboxes. He had a hand on the wall on each side of my head so that I couldn't escape. His face was only an inch away from mine. Soon, he was going to kiss me.

"Hey! She's not your girl!" I heard a male voice say… Wait, that wasn't "a" male voice that was Chiaki's voice; a very **mad** Chiaki's voice at that.

"I couldn't do this the last two times, Iinchou, so allow me to do it this time," Chiaki said as he had Iinchou by the arm and punched him very hard in the gut.

"There's a such thing as going 'too far,' Iinchou, and seducing a taken girl is far over the line," Chiaki said. It might have been better to say, "Sinbad said" because Chiaki's eyes were hard like Sinbad's, and his voice was just as low. Also, Chiaki didn't normally punch people hard enough to make them double over.

I then saw Iinchou…wait, make that "the-once-again-possessed Iinchou," say something to Chiaki. His eyes widened a little, before they returned to normal.

"If you touch her again, you will have more problems than my punch. Especially if you do what you just said," Chiaki said. I knew Chiaki was very protective of me, but he was downright intimidating right now. I had **never** seen Chiaki **this** mad.

"We'll see, Nagoya-kun. Maron-chan is too good for you. She deserves better," "Possessed Iinchou" said as he walked out the door.

I was a little too scared to talk to Chiaki right now. I would try to talk to him once his eyes returned to normal, and he wasn't practically fuming enough to make a forest-fire.

"I don't care who Checkmates him, but I **will** be punching him about three more times as Sinbad," Chiaki said. His voice was a little better, but it was still low, deep, and very lethal.

"Umm, okay," I said, afraid to talk even. I walked over and grabbed my groceries as Chiaki grabbed his bag. We rode the elevator in silence. The atmosphere was so thick that I think I could have grabbed a knife and cut the word "help" in the air.

Finally, when the elevator opened up, Chiaki took a deep breath and said in his regular voice, "You know, I just really don't like the personality Iinchou gets when he's possessed."

"At least you're not the one cornered!" I responded playfully.

"Well, I guess he does make me look better. After all, I do get to rescue a damsel-in-distress. Do I get a reward?" He asked playfully.

"Yeah, you get dinner," I responded as I opened the door to my apartment.

"I'd rather have Maron in her panties," Chiaki said.

"And you might not even get dinner if you keep talking like that," I responded. He walked over to my balcony and jumped over to put his bag in his apartment. Feeling a bit mischievous now myself, I then walked over to the balcony door and locked it. I just wanted to see his reaction.

After that, I walked over to the main door and locked it. Soon, I saw Chiaki walk to the balcony door and try to open it. When he couldn't open it, he looked at me. I waved at him and smiled.

I then heard him yell a muffled, "Maron! Open the door!" In response, I walked over to the door and fingered the lock.

I then replied, "Nope. This is your punishment. You were bad."

I saw him then run over to the other door I had locked, to see if I had forgotten to lock it.

"Nice try!" I yelled through the door. I then heard him go into his apartment. I walked over to the kitchen and started taking the groceries out of the bags. I then saw something moving out of the corner of my eye in the direction of the balcony.

I looked over to see Chiaki with his "lock-picker" as I called it so I walked over to my bathroom for a long pole of some sort. Once I found one, I laid it down flat where the door would have opened.

Seeing what I did he said, "Come on Maron! I just saved you from Iinchou…again."

"No more perverted comments?" I asked, again fingering the lock, which was already opened by Chiaki.

"No more comments," Chiaki agreed while sighing.

I then took the short brown pole away and let Chiaki open the door.

"That was mean. Using a thief's tactics against a thief," Chiaki said while smiling.

"Well, I've learned quite a lot of important things by being able to become Jeanne. One of them is how to make sure that no one, namely the enemy thief/boyfriend, can break in to my apartment," I said, a smile similar to Chiaki's on my lips.

"Ah, I see. I need Access to sign me up for the counter classes in 'Kaitou U' I guess," Chiaki said with a mischievous grin. I hated that grin. It **always** meant trouble for me.

"Yes, yes. Anyway, shouldn't we be getting dinner ready, seeing as we **do** have to go to our last week of school this week," I said smiling.

"Okay, you win," He said, as he walked towards me and held me from behind.

"How'd I end up so lucky, anyway?" he asked.

"Lucky? What do you mean?" I asked. Surely he wasn't talking about… me?

"I mean, how'd I end up with the most perfect being on the planet? Hmm?" He repeated. I was as red as a tomato now.

"I'm sorry about earlier with Iinchou, Maron. It's just that he has no right to do that to you, or to talk about you in that way. I guess I overreacted, huh?" He said, his voice low, but it wasn't deadly like earlier, or womanizing as usual. It was just… sincere

"N-no. You were kinda scary though," I admitted.

"I'm sorry. But I did take care of the problem," Chiaki said smiling. He was still hugging me from behind, but he now had his head on my shoulders.

"Yeah, till tomorrow, when he tries again. Which reminds me, I need to call Fin so that she can send out a notice," I said as I broke out of his hold and walked away.

"Tell her to tell Access too," Chiaki said.

"Why? That would only make my job harder," I commented playfully.

"Exactly. It's too easy if it's only you, right? Besides, when he gets home, I'll just tell him anyway," he commented back playfully.

"Uh-huh. Right. Anyway, start getting dinner ready while I contact Fin," I said then added, "And I'll tell her to tell Access as well," purposely saying the last part exhaustedly.

"Okay," he said, satisfied.

I then walked over to my Petit Claire and shouted, "Fin!" To which the little green angel's head popped into the living room.

"Yes, Maron?" Fin asked.

"Iinchou's possessed…again," I said with a sigh.

"Iinchou? You mean the guy who was possessed twice, has now been possessed a third time?!" Fin said, shocked.

"Yep. And hopefully he doesn't remember what happened because uh, Chiaki let him have it," I said.

"I can imagine that Chiaki was pretty upset," Fin replied shaking her head slowly.

"Anyway, I need you to find out which painting is the target. Also, Chiaki said to spread the news to Access," I said.

"Okay! Right now I don't know where he is, but if I see him I'll tell him for you!" Fin replied cheerfully.

"Thanks, Fin," I replied before putting the Petit Claire down.

I then walked back into the kitchen where Chiaki was cutting tomatoes.

"Okay, Fin said she'll look for the painting and if she finds Access, she tell him to do the same," I said as I walked up behind Chiaki.

"I still can't believe he got possessed…again," Chiaki said while shaking his head.

"I thought he was more secure with himself now, but I guess this proves that Iinchou still needs to change a lot, huh?" I asked, wanting Chiaki's opinion.

"Yeah. Still, I don't think he'll try that again tomorrow. Rather, he better hope for his own sake that he doesn't. He would sure hate to have to walk to school doubled over, hmm?" Chiaki said.

While I smiled at what he was saying, I knew I couldn't let him be that rough with Iinchou's body so often. "Chiaki, remember that this is a demon **possessing** Iinchou. This is not Iinchou. Therefore, don't harm his body too much. Once we checkmate the demon, Iinchou will have to deal with whatever you hurt. Iinchou **does not** need to spend the first month of summer vacation in the hospital, Chiaki."

"Yes, Mother," he said playfully.

I walked over to the groceries and grabbed the taco shells. I then started setting them on a tray to be placed in the oven.

"So how many tacos do you want?" I asked.

"Five," he responded.

I then looked up at him and shook my head. "Five tacos. Are you sure? That's a lot of food," I asked.

"I'm hungry," he responded, still cutting tomatoes.

"Ok-ay," I replied.

I then placed two for me and one for Fin and Access. After that, I placed the tray in the oven. Then I grabbed the lettuce and started cutting.

"I'm done," Chiaki said, putting the bowl of tomatoes beside me.

"The why don't you help me?" I asked smiling.

"Nah, I'd rather watch you work," he commented.

"You're no fun," I responded back playfully, not looking up from my job.

"Maron! Found the painting!" I heard a little squeaky voice say.

"Where is it?" I asked Fin.

"In the Minazuki Mansion! It's actually right outside what I think is Iinchou's bedroom," she responded.

"Great; a big place with lots of room for traps and high security. Chiaki, I changed my mind, you and Access can go have fun," I said jokingly.

"I don't know, it might be more fun to watch you," he responded back. I then heard someone beating at Chiaki's door.

"Sinbad, open up!" A certain purple-haired angel yelled.

"Access, wrong door!" Chiaki yelled as he went over to the door to let Access in.

Access flew in as soon as the door opened.

"Trouble! Big, big trouble!" Access yelled while flying over to kitchen.

"What's wrong?" Chiaki asked, apparently not fazed at all by Access's outburst.

"I found a demon—," Access began before Fin interrupted.

"At the Minazuki Manor?" Fin finished calmly.

"Uh, yeah! How'd you know?" Access said.

"Actually, Access, you're the last one to know," I said smiling.

He then looked up and said, "What?"

"Well, Maron and I got to experience the demon first-hand, so Maron got in contact of Fin, who then went looking for the demon," Chiaki said.

"And poor Kuro-Tenshi Access Time is left in the dark once again," Access sighed.

"Aww! Cheer up! We're having tacos!" I said smiling.

"I don't know what to think with all this good food. Sinbad always makes us eat takeout. And you know, after six months of take out, it just isn't good anymore," Access said, flying over to me.

"Access, do everyone a favor and go away," Chiaki said grumpily.

I giggled lightly as I finished putting the lettuce in a bowl and walked over to where the shredded cheese was and poured it in a bowl.

"Hey Chiaki, get the taco shells out of the oven for me, okay?" I asked. It was probably in his best interest to agree though.

"Okay," He responded. He then got up and opened the oven. As he put the tray on the counter, I got out the required number of plates and then put them on the table. After that, I got a cup out and filled it with ice and coke for me to drink.

"Access! Fin! Come fix your tacos!" I yelled as I grabbed a plate off the table.

Access and Fin flew over to where I was, as I broke the taco into two pieces. Fin got the smaller half, and she started fixing it up with a little bit of meat, a little bit of cheese, a tiny amount of lettuce, one tomato square, and finally a little bit more cheese. Access had just about the same thing, except that he had more cheese.

I then put their plates on the table, along with a cup that had two straws and a little divider in the middle. "What do you two want to drink?" I asked the two little angels.

"Coke please, Maron!" Fin said.

Access soon followed saying, "I'd like coke too, Jeanne."

I then poured coke into both sides as Chiaki fixed himself something to drink.

Afterwards, I grabbed myself a plate and started fixing my tacos. Chiaki also fixed his own tacos beside me.

After I finished making my tacos, I went and sat down. A moment later Chiaki followed.

"Thanks for the food!" We all said, and then started digging in.

"So, what time did we send the notice card for?" I asked Fin.

"Tomorrow at 10:30," Fin replied.

"Great. Miyako's gonna be grumpy by the time we get there," I said sighing.

"You might want to tell her to go to bed early tonight," Chiaki commented smiling.

"Nah, let's wait until tomorrow. I bet she'll let us know she got the notice by herself. I imagine she'll tell us quite loudly too, might I add," I responded back, smiling.

"True, true," he said.

"I hope that Miyako-chan will be nice tomorrow during the theft," Fin said.

"This **is** Miyako we're taking about. She'll be bossy, but will really care. You watch," I said smiling.

"Probably," Chiaki agreed.

"And who knows, maybe Iinchou will corner Miyako so that she'll see **why** this is so important," I said, sighing a little.

"Probably not. Iinchou only seems to have eyes for you. Aren't you lucky?" Chiaki said jokingly.

"Oh yes. So, so lucky," I responded sarcastically.

"Access, after dinner I trust that you'll send out a notice card?" Chiaki said.

"Yep!" Access replied, chewing on his mini-taco.

"10:30 huh? I wonder how the security will be like?" Chiaki asked.

"Probably top-notch, seeing as Iinchou is **the** heir to a multi-million dollar corporation. I've only stolen from one other mansion before, so it will be 'interesting' to say the least," I responded sighing.

"The other mansion being my old house?" Chiaki said smiling.

"Yes, and might I add that your dad was scary when he was possessed," I said while huffing the last part.

"Sure, but you weren't the one who was shot in the back," he reminded me.

I stayed quiet for a minute before replying, "At that time, I would have preferred if it had been me."

"I don't. You wouldn't have made it long enough to be sewed back up," Chiaki responded seriously.

"Thanks for the confidence in me!" I responded back, teasingly.

"Hey, what can I say, it was the start of many hospital visits for me," he responded back, playfully.

"Right. I guess it's a good thing your father is the head doctor, huh?" I replied.

"Yeah, I guess so," Chiaki replied quietly. He then looked at his plate silently for a couple of minutes.

"Anyway," I said, trying to lighten the now depressing mood, "How about we go look at the stars after this?" I suggested.

Chiaki looked up and nodded "okay" with a slight smile.

Soon after, dinner was done. Everyone helped clean up, so it only took about ten minutes. Fin and Access cleaned the table, while Chiaki and I cleaned the dishes. I swept the floor, though it really didn't need to be cleaned, while Chiaki put the now clean dishes away.

"Sinbad! Fin and I are going to send the notice! We'll be back later!" Access yelled as he was leaving.

"Bye Maron!" Fin yelled soon after.

"Have fun!" I responded back, smiling.

"Wow. It must be my lucky night, all alone with Maron. Who would have thought it would be tonight!" Chiaki said, grinning mischievously.

"Whatever you're thinking, stop," I responded. I grabbed a chair and opened the door to my balcony.

"Aww, you're no fun Maron," Chiaki responded, pretending to be sad.

"Yep, I'm the mean Maron-chan who puts perverts in their graves," I responded back, glancing at Chiaki.

"Maron-chan, huh?" Chiaki responded as he started playing with my hair.

"Might I ask what you're doing?" I asked, a little bit of cockiness in my voice.

"Oh, nothing in particular," Chiaki responded lightly.

"I don't trust you. Go stand where I can see you," I responded lazily, as I sat down in my own chair and "accidentally" ran over Chiaki's foot with my chair.

"OW!" Chiaki said suddenly.

I looked up at him with an innocent face and said, "What? Did a bug bite you?"

"You're lucky you're cute, you know that," he responded, slightly limping over to the other chair.

"Is poor little **Sinny** hurt?" I asked in a teasing voice.

"No, but **Jeanne** is about to be," Chiaki responded in a fake-threatening voice.

"I doubt it," I responded playing with the front ends of my hair now.

"Anyway, what do you think the best plan of action will be for tomorrow?" Chiaki asked seriously.

"We shouldn't go together. Iinchou likes to do magic stuff that tends to tie me up, so I could go in, and then once he ties me to a log or something, you could show up," I responded, thinking back on our past encounters with our now three-times-possessed Iinchou.

"So what you're really saying is that you want me to come rescue you again? Sure, Maron, I'd love to!" Chiaki said smiling mischievously.

"On second thought, you can be the decoy and I can sneak in at the last moment," I responded back, while shaking my head.

"Oh and then while you're untying me, we can ki—," Chiaki was saying, until I took one piece of a chocolate pocky and threw it at his head to interrupt him.

"Bad boy!" I said, glaring at Chiaki.

"I'm not a dog!" Chiaki exclaimed again, with fake anger.

"Right, right. Anyways, I'm gonna start getting ready for bed now, so it's time for you to jump over to that other balcony to the right of me," I said as I started to get up.

"But it's only 8:30," Chiaki responded back.

"Exactly. It's 8:30, and I have to get another bath, iron my school clothes, get breakfast pre-made, and get to bed by ten o'clock, so that I can be up at 7:20 to be at school at 8 AM. As I was saying, 'Night, Chiaki,'" I said. After finishing, I opened my balcony door up.

"Night Maron," he responded back, as he headed over to his apartment.

Time passed by fairly quickly, as I got ready for bed. I took the clothes which had finished drying and put them up, and after that I ironed my school uniform for the next morning. Soon, I was brushing my teeth and putting on my PJ's.

I then quietly slipped into my bed as I started thinking about what would happen the next day as I slowly drifted off to sleep.

* * *

AN: So sorry for being a day late! This week has gone by really fast and I didn't notice that it was Sunday until it was too late to post! Again, sorry! And thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far!

-Mew Mew Ssomsie

(Please continue reviewing!)


	5. Break Up Make Up

**Title: **Eternal Wind  
**Series:** Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne  
**Rating:** T  
**By:** MewSsomsie  
**Beta-ed By:** Argent-Allure  
**Summary: **"Even after Maron helped Fin, her battles weren't over yet. The 'Final Battle at the Ice Castle' was only the beginning. The demons that were still on Earth are now coming after Maron with everything they've got. Maron must now be stronger than ever, or else everything she does will be in vain, and everyone she loves will be in danger."

**AN:** **I will be updating this story weekly (or close to it).  
Disclaimer:** I don't own Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne. Nope, not even gonna put a corny pun in to make it funny.  
**Chapter:** 5. "Break-up. Make-up."

* * *

**BEEP BEEP BEEP**

I slowly woke up to the annoying beeps of my alarm clock.

**BEEP** **BEEP** **BEEP**

As my mind started to fully comprehend what was going on, I turned my alarm clock off. Soon after, I began stumbling over to my bathroom, where my school uniform was. Yawning for a minute, I then started to undress. Afterwards, I put on a cami, which was soon followed by the rest of my school uniform.

By then, I was awake enough to start doing my hair. By taking the front strands of my hair and twisting them in a bun, I was able to put my hair in its usual style. After that, I walked to my kitchen where I started eating the breakfast that I had prepared the night before.

As I was washing the dish my eaten breakfast had been in, I noticed the time: 7:45.

_7:45... Miyako will be knocking on the door any minute now. I better hurry_. I thought to myself.

Sure enough two minutes later, I heard a loud banging at my door.

"Maron! Hurry up!" I heard. The voice belonged to Miyako. I sighed as I saw that Fin was still asleep. After putting my shoes on, I opened the door to be greeted by Miyako, as expected. Chiaki had also decided to join us this morning as well

"Good morning!" I said smiling.

"Good morning? **Good morning**? Maron! We're late! Hurry!" Miyako said, practically dragging me along behind her as she ran towards the elevator.

As soon as the elevator opened, Miyako pulled me inside. Chiaki calmly stepped inside with Miyako and me.

"Morning," Chiaki greeted lazily.

"Morning," I responded back.

Seeing as the elevator would take a few more seconds before it reached its destination, I asked Miyako, "Has Uncle received any new notice cards yet?"

"No, why?" Miyako asked, looking suspiciously at Chiaki and me.

"No reason," I responded as I stepped off the elevator. I started walking over to check my mailbox as usual, but Miyako pulled me away against my will and said, "It's too late! I will not allow you to be late the last week of school!"

Thus, the entire way to school involved me being pulled by Miyako with Chiaki running behind us.

"Miyako, can't we slow down?" I asked as I started getting slightly out of breath.

"No! If you wanted to walk, you should have gotten up earlier!" She responded back.

I realized that Miyako was more out of breath than I was. After all, I had high endurance from being Jeanne, so eventually I ended up pulling her behind me instead.

"Can't you run any faster?" I called out playfully. Miyako looked in shock as I pulled her far faster than she probably knew I could go.

Soon, I saw Chiaki sneak up behind me as he started running with us.

"You're on time to 'work' every time, yet you're almost never early to school. I would think that you'd rather be on time to school than for 'work,'" Chiaki commented.

"I'm not a morning person, mmkay?" I responded, still pulling Miyako along behind me.

"Apparently," Chiaki responded back. I then gave him a little push with my free hand, which threw him slightly off balance.

Now going at "my pace," we arrived at school four minutes later.

"We are not only on time, but we're early!" I said smiling. Miyako was panting so hard I thought that she was going to pass out.

"You okay, Miyako?" I asked.

"I'm…fine," Miyako responded, still out of breath.

I walked over to my desk, which was to the left of Chiaki's and in front of Miyako's, and put my book bag down. When I saw Chiaki in his school uniform, I suddenly realized that it had been five days already since I had last seen him wearing it.

"Hey Chiaki," I whispered.

He looked up at me and responded, "What?"

"What's our excuse gonna be for missing last Thursday and Friday?" I asked, hoping that no one was listening besides the blue-haired boy next me.

"You're clueless, aren't you?" He asked me.

I gave him a slight glare before he sighed and handed me a note from inside his backpack.

"What's this?" I questioned quietly as I began reading the note.

_ "Doctor's excuse for Kusababe Maron.   
Kusababe-san has been treated for a contagious cold. She will be allowed to return to school on May 23, 1999.   
Signed,   
Nagoya Hospital"_

"This sounds pretty professional. How many of these have you turned in during the past?" I asked out of curiosity.

"Well, since my dad made me write the doctor's excuses for the hospital when I was younger, let's just say that I've done it a couple of times. But its saved me on quite a few occasions, especially with broken backs and such," he responded in an indifferent tone.

"What are you two talking about?" Miyako asked as she walked up to her desk.

"Just about the 'contagious cold' that I've had the past four days," I responded, smiling lightly.

"But you haven't had a cold," Miyako said, frowning slightly.

"According to this I do," I replied back, putting the note on Miyako's desk.

"How in the world did you get Nagoya Hospital to give you an excuse for a fake cold?" Miyako asked.

"I have my resources," I responded smiling.

"Now I'm a resource?" Chiaki said playfully.

"You got it from him?" Miyako asked, looking between Chiaki and me.

"Yeah, since my old man runs a hospital, I have experience at writing these notes," he explained to Miyako.

"I wonder what my excuse will be?" Miyako said, but you could tell she was just thinking out loud.

"You were taking care of us, of course!" I responded.

"It's not a lie," Chiaki agreed.

Miyako nodded and then asked, "Do you think that will work?"

"I think it will," I said.

"Alright class, time to begin," Pakkamlamao-sensei said.

The day passed by quickly until it was soon only mere minutes away from lunchtime.

_Waiting…Waiting…Waiting…_ was what was going through my head. Pakkamlamao-sensei told us to study quietly, which meant that I had to deal with "possessed Iinchou" looking at me, which then in turn caused Chiaki to glare at "possessed Iinchou."

**RING**

I sighed in relief as I started packing up my things so that I could go eat lunch.

Chiaki and Miyako finished packing before me, and Miyako went ahead as usual. Chiaki, however, just waited beside my desk.

"You know, it's irritating when you're staring at me," I said, after I finished putting my books in my book bag.

"I'm not giving Iinchou any 'private moments' with you right now," Chiaki responded, picking up his backpack with his left arm. He then proceeded to rest his right arm across my shoulders from behind.

I sighed again before responding, "You're easy to get jealous."

"And you're apparently easy prey for Iinchou. Your point?" Chiaki asked, cocky grin in place once again.

"Come on, I don't wanna waste lunchtime talking about how much we don't like Iinchou right now," I said as I started walking towards the door leading to the school hallway.

Chiaki followed quietly for a moment before I heard Miyako come running to us.

"Maron! Chiaki!" She yelled as we stopped walking and turned around to face her.

"I just… got a page…from dad…saying that Jeanne…and Sinbad were… going to steal something from the Minazuki Manor," Miyako said while huffing for breath.

"And?" Chiaki said, as if asking what the problem was.

"'And?' And why in the world are you stealing from the Minazuki's. Actually, it was addressed to Iinchou! What did he do?" Miyako asked, letting her "detective side" overwhelm her "common sense side" which would have told her that we weren't doing it for no reason.

"Her mouth still seems to work," Chiaki commented to me.

I nodded in agreement. Miyako looked like she was going to breathe fire; she was so upset.

"Miyako, we didn't send it for fun. Iinchou's possessed by a demon," I said trying to reason with the purple-haired girl in front of me.

"Again," Chiaki commented, rolling his eyes.

"Again?" Miyako asked, temporarily forgetting that she was mad at us.

"Yeah. This is the third time Iinchou's been possessed. I can show you the signs," I responded, as I started opening my backpack looking for my Petit Claire.

As soon as I found it, I said, "Come on Miyako, I'll show you what I mean."

"Maron, what stupid thing are you about to do?" Chiaki said, not liking the look in my eyes.

"Just gonna let you save the 'damsel in distress' again," I responded, confirming to Chiaki what I was doing.

"Idiot!" Chiaki called after me as I started walking faster.

"I'll pretend I didn't hear that!" I responded back, keeping pace as the Petit Claire started going off more rapidly. Miyako and Chiaki were now running behind me trying to catch up.

I started slowing down after a minute because I saw Iinchou sitting by a tree outside.

"Miyako, this is my Petit Claire. It starts going off whenever it's in the presence of a demon. Hold this for me while I show you the 'other reason' we know Iinchou's possessed," I said.

I then looked to Chiaki and said, "Punching people on school grounds is not allowed, okay?"

"Just so you know, I'm mad at you right now," Chiaki responded, obviously trying to pretend to be mad.

"You're a bad liar sometimes, Chiaki, and saying you're mad at me when you're not is one of those times," I said as I started walking outside by myself.

Soon I was purposely walking out in front of Iinchou. I pretended not to see him, as I walked in close to a wall, but not far away enough where Chiaki's eyes could not see me.

I turned around and waited until I heard footsteps I knew to be Iinchou's. I slowly turned around as he said, "Hello, Maron-san."

I tried to smile as if I didn't notice something was wrong as I said, "Hey Iinchou!"

In less than five seconds, Iinchou had me against a tree. I silently waited for Chiaki as Iinchou's lips came closer and closer to mine. Out of the corner of my right eye, I saw Chiaki running towards me with Miyako behind him.

"Yo! Iinchou! What did I say about seducing a taken girl?" Chiaki said as he calmly started walking over.

Iinchou let go of me and turned around saying, "I already told you. Maron-san is too good for you."

Chiaki's eyes turned to stone again as I watched him slowly, very slowly, walk over to where Iinchou was and then threaten, "Don't go near my **girlfriend** again. Understand?"

Iinchou, even in his possessed state, cowered under Chiaki's gaze. He started walking away from Chiaki and me as I ran over to where Miyako was.

"That's how we know Iinchou is possessed," I said.

Chiaki then came from behind me and whispered, "You're in trouble too. I want dinner before I leave tonight as payment."

I smiled a little, leaving Miyako looking at us with a suspicious face, as I said, "Okay. I'll do that as my punishment for worrying you. Mmkay?"

"Deal," Chiaki said as he started towards the cafeteria.

"What was that about?" Miyako asked as she watched Chiaki leave.

"Chiaki doesn't get along with Iinchou when he's possessed. Yesterday, he punched him in the gut," I said, sighing once again.

"Oh Miyako, can I have the Petit Claire back?" I said as I opened my hand up. Miyako handed me the requested item before I opened my backpack and put it in.

"Let's go catch up with Chiaki before he comes and drags me to the cafeteria, so that he can keep his eye on me," I said as I walking back inside.

I began searching for Chiaki after Miyako and I got our food. I looked over to where he usually sat, and there he was. I walked over and placed my tray across from him.

"What took so long?" Chiaki asked, almost done with his lunch now.

"Long line," I explained.

"Hmm," He replied absentmindedly.

"Chiaki, you have to make the plans for what we're going to do for 'work' after school. In other words," I said as I brought my hand close to his face and snapped my fingers, "Quit spacing out!"

Chiaki was now paying attention. Not **happily** paying attention, but he was paying attention nonetheless.

"Lunch is almost over, ya know?" Chiaki said grumpily.

"Yep! So you better talk a lot so that I can't talk and have to eat! I'd like to finish my lunch instead of talking the whole time, you know?" I said, smiling as cutely as I could.

"Let's see here. Last night, I dreamt of you wearing a white bikini that was coming undone—," he began. However, before he could finish his sentence, I reached over and slapped him on the face.

"**That** was uncalled for," I said, fuming at him. I ended up eating the rest of my lunch in silence. As soon as I finished, I picked my tray up silently, threw my trash away, and then headed back to the classroom early.

_I kinda feel bad about slapping him. But that was uncalled for! Even if he actually did dream about __**that,**__ he shouldn't have told me, let alone told me as a joke!_ I thought to myself angrily as I walked to the classroom to resume the second half of the day.

Soon after I had settled back in, everyone else in my class started filing into their seats as well, including Miyako and Chiaki.

"Maron," Chiaki said as he sat down.

"Hmph!" I said as I turned my head to look in the opposite direction.

"Come on! It was a joke!" Chiaki tried again.

I then ignored him as I got a book out and started to pretend reading it. That would have worked if Chiaki hadn't have sat beside me.

"Please Maron. I'm sorry," Chiaki tried once more.

"I don't like you today. Go away," I said to him. I made sure to give him a glare to remember before returning back to my book.

After that, Chiaki sighed and started writing something down. I ignored him and continued pretending to read my book. Miyako was staring wide-eyed at Chiaki and me. I guess she had never seen us fight like this before.

_If only she knew that this was fairly normal_. I thought to myself.

A couple of minutes later, Pakkamlamao-sensei returned to the classroom and we began class again.

Chiaki tried whispering to me a couple of times, but I ignored him. As soon as the final bell rang, I started packing up again to go home.

"Are you ready, Miyako?" I asked smiling.

"Yeah," Miyako said, looking at me slightly strangely as I was now smiling when I was mad only a couple of minutes ago.

"Let's go then," I responded as I headed for the door.

"Maron!" Chiaki called after me, which I ignored.

"Come on Miyako, hurry up!" I said, as if I hadn't even heard Chiaki call my name.

Miyako then caught up to me and we started walking out.

_Stupid Chiaki. One day you'll learn_. I thought to myself.

Miyako just looked at me worriedly while I was thinking.

"Hey Miyako? I'm gonna go window shop for a little bit. Wanna join me?" I asked.

"Sure," Miyako responded.

Instead of turning left, which was the way back home, we turned right, which was the way to the stores.

After about an hour, and two bags of clothes that Miyako and I just had to get, I finally said, "Well, I have to head back now." I didn't really want to go back so soon, but it helped that the new clothes we had bought were really cute and on sale.

"Why?" Miyako asked looking at me.

"Because I have to do homework and plan for tonight," I responded with another sigh.

"Are you and Chiaki going to work together again?" Miyako asked.

"Nope! Our past experiences with Iinchou say that I have to get captured and Chiaki has to rescue me before we can do anything. The demon will be so focused on Chiaki that I can then 'Checkmate,'" I responded.

"Sounds fun," Miyako responded sarcastically.

"Yeah, it really does, doesn't it?" I replied.

We walked home, making some small talk every now and then. Soon, we came across the building we lived in. Miyako walked to the elevator as I went to check my mailbox.

As I expected, I received some "Chiaki-mail."

_Maron,_

_I'm sorry that what I said made you mad. It was meant to be a joke. I didn't realize it would offend you so badly. _

_Cheer up! We have a job tonight, and I'm not going easy on you, baby!_

_-Chiaki _

"Stupid Chiaki," I muttered under my breath.

_Why does he have to word everything so well that I can't help but forgive him! I want to be mad at him longer, but after reading that card, it's getting harder and harder to stay mad!_ I thought with a frown.

There was no letter from my parents today, so I tucked the note card Chiaki sent me into a pocket and rode the elevator up. Miyako had already gone up while I was checking my mailbox.

I stepped off the elevator and was unlocking my door when I saw Chiaki open his.

"Maron—," he began.

I cut him off saying, "If you **ever** do that again, I won't be so easy on you again. I'll move to the other side of the world to get away from that stupid pout you give me if I have to." I then nodded. I was silently saying, "Yes, I forgive you."

Chiaki walked up and hugged me saying, "Fin's been worried about you. You should have at least contacted her, you know."

"Yeah, yeah. I was mad at you so I bought myself some new clothes. I guess I forgot to contact her since Miyako was with me," I responded, opening the door to my apartment.

Chiaki walked in with me as I sat my backpack down and took my shoes off.

"Hey Chiaki," I said after a moment.

"Hmm?" He answered, taking the books out of his backpack so that he could begin his homework.

"Did your dad ever cancel the engagement with Sazanka-san?" I asked. I knew that in some ways it wasn't any of my business, but I still wanted to know.

"…Not yet. I haven't pushed it enough. Especially since I don't even like to go near him with anyone else. He doesn't know when to shut up," Chiaki said, grumbling the last part while putting his head down and covering his face for a moment.

"I like your dad. He's really nice! And besides, I have to have someone besides Access giving me blackmail," I responded smiling.

"Don't remind me," Chiaki responded with another grumble.

_He-he. So that's why he's covering his face. He's embarrassed about his dad. Actually, he's kinda cute when he's embarrassed like that._ I thought to myself with a smile.

"What are you smiling at?" Chiaki asked.

"Oh nothing. I was just thinking about something," I responded with a mischievous smile.

"What were you thinking about?" He asked, apparently not liking the way I was looking at him.

"Hey, I'm gonna go get myself a drink. Would you like me to get you— oh what was it? Oh yeah! _Pudding with a flag on top_ while I'm in the kitchen?" I responded with an evil smile.

Chiaki looked at me for a moment and then frowned saying, "I'm gonna **kill** that old man!"

I smiled at him and then replied, "I would like to have a father-in-law you know!"

"No you don't. You just **think** you want a father-in-law," he responded.

I could tell that he was glad the subject had changed to things that didn't embarrass him. However, I wasn't going to let him off that easily.

"Besides, before you kill him, I need him to give me those pictures he was showing me of you when you were younger," I said with a confident smile.

"He showed you **WHAT?" **Chiaki asked.

_He-he. I hit a good spot!_ I thought silently.

"He showed me some pictures of you when you were three, six, eight, twelve, and thirteen. Did you know that you were really **cute** as a child?" I responded as I put an emphasis on the word I knew he wouldn't like to be called. I then started taking my own books out of my backpack, as I had returned with my drink already.

"I think I'll do the homework alone today," Chiaki said as he started gathering his books back into his backpack.

"Aww, I won't tease you anymore! Come on, I want to finish this early so that I can eat before I leave tonight!" I whined.

"You win. I wanna eat tonight before I leave too," Chiaki said while sighing.

_Stomach over pride, huh?_ I thought with a little grin.

It was a good thing Chiaki didn't look up until after my grin had disappeared already. I seriously doubted that he wanted to know the other stuff his dad and I had been talking about.

"What do you want to start on first?" I asked the boy in front of me.

"Math. It's the easiest," the said boy replied.

"Easiest, huh?" I said. I would be glad to get him to help me with math. After all, it was the most time-consuming subject.

We worked on the math problems for about 45 minutes before we were both finished.

"At least it's almost summer, so we're not getting loaded down with too much homework!" I said as I switched out my math books for other subjects.

"Yeah," Chiaki agreed, also exchanging books.

We worked for about thirty more minutes before we completed all of our homework.

"Where do should we go to eat?" I asked as I finished packing my books back into my backpack.

"How about you cook?" Chiaki asked.

"Spaghetti?" I asked.

"No way. Your spaghetti is just buttered noodles! You don't put sauce on your spaghetti!" Chiaki replied.

"And?" I asked.

"And I'm too lazy to go get something, so that's fine," Chiaki replied with a sigh.

"Thought so," I said confidently.

I cooked while talking to Chiaki about what the security for the Minazuki Manor was going to be like.

"Trap doors are highly possible," I added.

"I like trap doors," Chiaki replied with an evil grin.

"Not this time, buddy. Remember, if Sinbad messes up too bad, Chiaki will be the one to suffer," I said as I glared into his eyes.

"Right," Chiaki said with a sigh.

"The painting is right next to Iinchou's room. Fin was also telling me that he had a window in his room, so that would be the best place to enter through," I stated.

"Yeah. I wonder what Miyako will set up?" Chiaki asked.

"Probably nothing major, seeing as she wants Iinchou to get back to normal also," I responded.

"Yeah. I don't think many people like Iinchou when he's possessed. Not to mention the fact that girls pay more attention to him than me when he's possessed!" Chiaki replied.

"Ahem." I coughed pointedly. "You're taken, remember?" I asked with a glare.

"I would turn them down, of course," Chiaki replied nervously.

I shook my head and asked, "Trying to be on the bad list today?"

"No. I'm paying you back for earlier," Chiaki replied smugly.

"Oh. I see. I guess that I shouldn't tell you the other things I talked about with your father then, hmm?" I asked with an evil smile.

"No. You love me too much to intentionally hurt me," Chiaki said as he looked at me with puppy-dog eyes.

"Just so you know… Those don't work on me," I replied as I put some noodles in a bowl.

Chiaki got himself out an extra bowl and began fixing some dinner for himself.

"What do you eat when Miyako and I don't cook for you, anyway?" I asked as I watched Chiaki eat.

"You'd be surprised at how many pizza and Chinese take-out places know me on a first-name basis now," Chiaki replied.

"Geez. You should at least know how to cook **something**, you know," I replied.

"Yeah, but Access got tired of trying my cooking," Chiaki responded with a sigh.

"I can imagine," I responded.

"And you say I'm mean," Chiaki responded with a fake pout.

"Yep. I think that you are," I responded with a smile.

"I disagree," Chiaki said as he took a bite of my "spaghetti."

"Of course you do," I responded with a wink.

Dinner went well; we talked and ate happily. Not once did we bring up the task we were going to have to take on later that night.

Afterwards, we cleaned the dishes and swept the floor.

"Where are Access and Fin?" I asked, seeing as our two angels were missing.

"If Access if doing what he said he was gonna do, then he and Fin are on their first date right now," Chiaki replied with a smile.

"What? Really?" I asked excitedly.

"Yep!" Chiaki replied.

"Wow. Please tell me that he didn't get any advice from you," I said.

"I gave him a couple of pointers," Chiaki responded.

"No! The date's gonna go bad if Access uses them!" I said.

"Hey!" Chiaki said, insulted.

"Chiaki. Think about whom he's taking on this date: Fin Fish. You know, the angel who won't even let you make a perverted comment about **me**? Think about what will happen if Access says something perverted!" I responded.

"... I see what you mean," Chiaki replied after a moment.

"And you need him to turn into Sinbad, don't you?" I asked.

"Uh-huh," Chiaki replied as he paled.

"And our plan will only work if Jeanne **and** Sinbad shows," I added.

Chiaki paled even more.

"You better hope Access isn't **too** mad at you," I replied.

"Y-yeah," Chiaki agreed.

"Anyway, it's about eight now… I need to get everything ready for bed so that I can collapse after work," I said as I opened my porch door.

"Okay. I'll see you later?" Chiaki asked, though we both knew the answer.

"Of course," I replied.

Afterwards, he went out my front door.

I prepared another school uniform for tomorrow, made breakfast, and set my pajamas on my bed for after the theft, when I would most likely come back home exhausted.

The clock in my apartment read 9:30 pm. It was time to go.

I closed my door and headed for the Minazuki Manor. I saw Chiaki in the foyer talking to Access as the elevator opened up.

"Has Miyako left yet?" I asked.

"Oh yeah. She left about an hour ago," Chiaki replied.

"See ya later then!" I yelled as I ran out of the apartment complex.

It took about 15 minutes of walking to reach my destination. Once there, I transformed into Jeanne and looked at the left side of the manor, where Iinchou's room was.

I took a step onto the lawn and suddenly bright lights went off beside me.

"Jeanne! You won't get away this time!" Miyako yelled.

"Miss Detective, do you ever get tired of saying that?" I asked with a smile, as I broke the glass in the lights causing them to shut off.

I ran and jumped over the police cars. I then hooked my ribbon to a pole on the upper roof, right by Iinchou's room.

After pulling to make sure that the ribbon was secure, I pulled myself up.

Once I was in Iinchou's room, I saw a shadow appear in front of me.

"Jeanne. Do you think that you can stop me?" The demon asked.

"Of course I do!" I responded as I did a couple of flips and went over possessed Iinchou's head. I landed right in front of the painting that was corrupted.

As I began to ready my ribbon to seal the demon, I saw possessed-Iinchou charge and corner me so that I wouldn't be able to get him off of me. He had his hands around my neck.

I was close to becoming unconscious when I heard a voice say, "Kaitou Sinbad has arrived."

_Thank goodness_. I thought as I fainted from lack of oxygen.

* * *

"Maron!" Chiaki yelled as I slowly opened my eyes.

"Chi...a...ki?" I asked quietly.

"Are you okay?" Chiaki asked frantically.

"Ye…ah. I think so," I responded back.

"Did… you… checkmate?" I asked as I tried to sit up.

"Yeah. I checkmated and got us outta there. And sorry, but Iinchou might be missing this last week of school," Chiaki said as he picked me up and carried me in his arms protectively.

"How… mean… were you?" I asked.

"A few broken bones worth, probably," Chiaki responded.

"Po...or Iinchou," I responded as I shifted my head so that my eyes were half-closed against his shirt.

I then noticed that while he was definitely Chiaki, I was still Jeanne.

I de-transformed myself as I said, "I think I'll sleep until we get home, okay?"

I didn't hear his answer because I was asleep before he could respond.

* * *

Sometime time later, I woke up enough to feel myself being laid on my bed. Soon after, I felt a cold rag being placed on my throat.

"Can I do anything?" I heard a male voice ask.

"Chi...a...ki?" I asked in the same tone I used before.

"I'm right here," He said as he placed his hand on top of my mine.

"Advil?" I asked.

"You want some Advil?" Chiaki asked.

I nodded very slightly. He then stood up and walked away.

"Maron! Are you alright?" I heard Fin ask.

"I'm...okay," I replied.

"Yeah right. You should have called for help. I didn't even know that he was **strangling** you!" Chiaki replied as he helped me up and gave me a glass of water along with the pain-reliever.

"Sorry. Wasn't… thinking," I said in broken sentences. It hurt to talk.

"I know you weren't thinking! I thought I had lost you for a little while!" Chiaki said as he hugged me.

"I was really worried!" He added.

"Sor...ry," I replied.

"Shh… Don't talk," Chiaki commented.

"I'm...going...sleep," I said as I fell back into a tired slumber.

* * *

**Please Review!**


	6. Junior Doctor's Orders

**Title: **Eternal Wind  
**Series:** Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne  
**Rating:** T  
**By:** MewSsomsie  
**Beta-ed By:** Argent-Allure  
**Summary: **"Even after Maron helped Fin, her battles weren't over yet. The 'Final Battle at the Ice Castle' was only the beginning. The demons that were still on Earth are now coming after Maron with everything they've got. Maron must now be stronger than ever, or else everything she does will be in vain, and everyone she loves will be in danger."

**AN:** **I will be updating this story weekly (Every Sunday / or close to it) .  
Disclaimer:** I don't own Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne. If I did, there would be a whole lot more than 44 episodes! I'm talking 100 or so! Sadly, I don't own a thing… :(  
**Chapter:** 6 "Junior Doctor's Orders"

* * *

"Hnn?" I mumbled as I slowly opened my eyes.

_How did I end up back home…?_ I thought.

I sat up slowly and looked around my bedroom. Chiaki was sitting in a chair fast asleep. Fin and Access were on the nightstand, also fast asleep.

I slowly moved my feet to the side of the bed. I looked at the clock, which read 6:30 am.

_Well, I've got time, so I'll make breakfast for everyone._ I thought as I stood up.

I then noticed that my throat hurt a little.

I subconsciously put my hand to my throat as the memories of the night before flooded my head.

* * *

"_Maron! Are you alright?" I heard Fin ask.._

"_I'm...okay," I replied._

"_Yeah right. You should have called for help. I didn't even know that he was __**strangling**__ you!" Chiaki replied as he helped me up and gave me a glass of water along with the pain-reliever. _

"_Sorry. Wasn't… thinking," I said in broken sentences. It hurt to talk._

"_I know you weren't thinking! I thought I had lost you for a little while!" Chiaki said as he hugged me._

"_I was really worried!" He added._

"_Sor...ry," I replied._

* * *

  
I wasn't aware that a slightly pained look had crossed my features as I subconsciously soothed my throat in recollection.

"Maron, are you alright?" I heard a concerned voice ask.

"Yeah," I replied, noticing that it didn't hurt as much to talk as it did the night before. The pain was still there, however.

"You should lay down," Chiaki, who was apparently the concerned voice from before, said gently.

"I'm going to school today," I said as I changed topics while looking at him straight in the eyes.

"I don't think that will be a good idea," Chiaki warned.

"I don't care. I'm going," I responded as I walked outside my bedroom.

"And you say I'm stubborn," Chiaki said.

"I never said that I wasn't stubborn," I replied as I went into the kitchen to get a glass of water.

"Are you sure that you can make it?" Chiaki asked.

"…No. But I'm still going to try," I replied as I looked at the floor.

"Well, let's get ready then," Chiaki responded with a light smile.

"Right," I responded back.

Chiaki went back into his apartment as soon as I headed back into my room.

I got dressed, ate the breakfast that I had prepared the night before, and ate in silence. Afterwards, I washed the dishes used and cleaned up any other messes that I had made.

It was about time for Miyako to start knocking the door down, so I went ahead and put my shoes on.

By the time I had stood up with my shoes on, the doorbell rang.

Grabbing my backpack, I opened the door to see Miyako and Chiaki waiting for me.

"What happened last night? You flaked out on me," Miyako vented.

"She was almost killed, that's what," Chiaki replied grumpily.

"**What**?" Miyako exclaimed as she looked at me with a worried face.

"It wasn't that bad," I tried.

"**Maron**, had I come in a minute later, you would have been **dead**," Chiaki replied as he looked into my eyes.

"I know," I said quietly.

The walk to school was unnerving. Miyako was worried, but was trying not to show it. And Chiaki was still slightly mad at me.

Once we arrived at school, I unpacked my backpack for the day. Soon after, class began.

Pakkamlamao-sensei was in the middle of explaining a history topic to the class, when a certain name came up. "And Jeanne d'Arc—,"

The name of my past self always seemed to catch my attention in class.

I looked up at my teacher and listened.

"—But in the end, she was killed. She could have been saved, but no one fought for the girl who had saved so many," Pakkamlamao-sensei said.

My eyes looked down as I continued listening.

One of my bigger, hidden, insecurities was that I was worried that no one would fight for me after the battles with the demons were finished. I worried that I too, would be left alone to die in bitterness, like my past self.

Chiaki must have seen a concerned look in my eyes because I soon noticed a hand lightly squeezing my own.

_That's right. I'm not alone. Chiaki won't leave me._ I thought with reassurance.

I listened to the lesson with renewed determination as Chiaki's hand secretly grasped my own beneath our desks.

As soon as the bell rang, Chiaki's hand dropped like it had never been on mine. I picked up my books and put them back into my backpack.

I waited for Miyako and Chiaki to finish packing before we headed to the cafeteria together.

I got a grill cheese and chicken-noodle soup, under Chiaki's advisement.

"So what exactly happened last night?" Miyako asked as we sat down.

"I snuck past the police, including you," I said, which got me a glare from Miyako. I then continued, "and got into Iinchou's room. He ambushed me and almost strangled me. Chiaki got in after a few minutes. After that, I fainted," I explained.

"I checkmated and got us outta there… After I broke a few of Iinchou's bones, that is," Chiaki responded as he ate a ham sandwich.

"Are you alright now?" Miyako asked.

"My throat still hurts, especially when I talk, but I'm okay," I reassured her.

"After school you're taking Advil, doing your homework, eating dinner, and then going to bed. Understood?" Chiaki asked.

"Yes sir," I responded.

"Okay… Wait a minute! You broke a few of Iinchou's bones?!" Miyako exclaimed.

"Could you say it any louder?" Chiaki asked with an annoyed tone.

"Sorry," Miyako muttered.

"Is he here today?" Chiaki asked as he ate a bite of his lunch.

"No…" Miyako responded.

"There's your answer. He's probably at the hospital," Chiaki replied.

We ate a few more minutes before it was time to head back to class.

Pakkamlamao-sensei lectured us for a while longer before school let out.

Chiaki, Miyako, and I walked home afterwards. Chiaki didn't allow any diversions from our destination, so we arrived fairly quickly.

I checked my mailbox, ignoring Chiaki's orders for a moment, and then headed into my apartment with Chiaki followed me in.

Chiaki did a rush job on homework, not taking any time to explain stuff like he had done the previous night.

After an hour and a half of homework, I was ordered to take Advil and lay down.

"I'll get something for dinner," Chiaki responded after I had argued that I needed to cook dinner instead of lying down.

"But I don't wanna be poisoned!" I argued playfully.

"Bed. Now." Chiaki commanded, completely ignoring my attempt at our usual small arguments.

I went and lay down as he told me to.

However, as soon as I heard Chiaki leave my apartment, I moved to get up. Suddenly, Access flew in front of me.

"Sorry Jeanne, but I'm under strict orders from Sinbad to keep you in bed. He said that if you wouldn't stay put, then I needed to get him," Access explained as he flew a foot or so in front of my face.

"But I'm thirsty!" I lied.

"We'll get you a bottle of water," Access replied as he and Fin flew off. A few minutes later they brought the water to me.

"Thanks," I replied.

I took a few sips and then lay back down.

"What did Chiaki use to threaten you into doing this?" I asked.

"Heh-heh. I'm not allowed to say," Access responded nervously.

"Hmm," I responded as I eyed the kuro-tenshi.

After about fifteen minutes, I heard my balcony door open.

Only seconds after that, Chiaki walked into my room with more chicken-noodle soup.

"But I ate soup for lunch!" I tried to argue.

"And you're gonna eat it for dinner too. It's the best thing for your throat," Chiaki argued back.

"Fine," I replied as I took the soup.

I ate in partial silence as I talked a little to Fin.

After dinner, Chiaki made me lay down again. Only this time, it was so that I would go to sleep.

"But I'm not tired!" I tried to argue once again.

"You're going to bed. If you get a good night's sleep and rest for a couple of days then you'll get better," Chiaki argued, and won, once again.

"Okay, **doctor**. Let me get ready for bed then," I said as I took a nightshirt and a pair of pants for bed and went into the bathroom.

I returned a few minutes later with my teeth brushed and in my nightclothes.

"Now go to sleep," Chiaki commanded.

"Okay, okay. I'm going already." I responded with a sigh.

As I was about to lie down, I noticed Chiaki going to the seat he had slept in the night before.

"Umm. Aren't you going back to your apartment?" I asked nervously.

"No. I'm going to make sure that you don't try anything tonight," Chiaki responded.

"But that can't be comfortable!" I argued.

"I'll be fine. Now quit trying to put off going to sleep and lay down, Maron," Chiaki ordered.

I then grabbed a blanket and pillow. Afterwards, I carried them to him.

"I don't need-" Chiaki tried to argue.

"I'm not going to bed until I know you're comfortable," I responded back.

"Fine," Chiaki responded with a small smile.

"Good," I responded back with a grin slightly larger than Chiaki's.

I then walked back into my bed and lay down with Chiaki watching me as I fell asleep.

_I hope that I feel better tomorrow. __Because we're going to drive each other insane if I don't get better_. I thought, before my consciousness faded into my dreams.

* * *

So sorry guys (and girls…)! I know that this chapter is SHORT for this story. I didn't have a lot of time to write this week, and Argent-Allure didn't have a lot of proofing time, so this chapter isn't that long. (There are probably about two pages of this chapter that I wrote AFTER she proofed, so there will be more mistakes than usual in this chapter.)

I hope that you still enjoyed this chapter, and hopefully the next chapter will be longer to make up for it, nya!

Please continue to review, as everyone's thoughts are like food to me. It makes me wanna write a lot more!

I hope everyone's enjoyed "Eternal Wind" so far!

---Mew Mew Ssomsie


	7. Nagoya Hospital

**Title: **Eternal Wind  
**Series:** Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne  
**Rating:** T  
**By:** MewSsomsie  
**Beta-ed By:** Argent-Allure  
**Summary: **"Even after Maron helped Fin, her battles weren't over yet. The 'Final Battle at the Ice Castle' was only the beginning. The demons that were still on Earth are now coming after Maron with everything they've got. Maron must now be stronger than ever, or else everything she does will be in vain, and everyone she loves will be in danger."

**AN:** **I will be updating this story weekly (or close to it).**

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne. Nope, not even gonna put a corny pun in to make it funny.  
**Chapter:** 7- Nagoya Hospital

* * *

I slowly opened my eyes to the bright sunshine, which was shining into my room. When I looked at my alarm clock, I realized that I had woken up about five minutes before my alarm was due to start beeping.

I sat up and turned the alarm off. I then noticed with a small smile that Access and Fin were sleeping on the windowsill side-by-side.

As soon as I moved to get up, Chiaki opened his eyes and looked at me.

"Did you sleep okay?" I asked.

"Yeah. What about you? Are you feeling better?" Chiaki questioned as he stood up to examine my throat.

"Uh-huh! I just gotta get ready for school now!" I expressed with an over-happy smile.

"Take it easy, Maron," Chiaki replied as he headed back to his apartment.

"If I don't take it easy, I get in trouble!" I replied back.

I don't think he heard me because seconds after I said that I heard him accidentally bang his arm against his bedroom wall.

I picked out a clean uniform and put it on. Afterwards, I brushed my hair and then went to eat breakfast. I ended up having toast, as I wasn't able to prepare anything the night before due to Chiaki's stubbornness.

I was actually ready two whole minutes before Miyako tried to kill my door.

"Coming!" I yelled as I opened the door.

Chiaki had his backpack over his shoulder, and Miyako had hers in her left hand. I then grabbed my own backpack, and soon we were off.

"Are you ready for that math test today?" I asked Miyako.

"Math… test?" Miyako asked with horror.

"Yeah. The one on the Algebra we've been learning this year. It's the final," Chiaki added.

"…Math…final?" Miyako repeated with even more horror.

"Uh-oh. Three, two, one—" I said as I began a countdown, knowing what was coming next.

"We have a math final today? I thought it was tomorrow! I was gonna study tonight! This is entirely your fault, Maron! Why didn't you remind me? Why couldn't you just stay home this week instead of going out?" Miyako exclaimed as she went into a frenzied panic.

"In about thirty seconds, she's gonna calm down and beg for help," I told Chiaki as I listened to Miyako ramble.

"Four, three, two, one—" I counted down again.

"Maron! What's the most common problem type that's gonna be on the test?" Miyako asked.

"Let's get to school first, okay Miyako?" I asked as I saw that she was starting to attract a crowd.

We arrived about fifteen minutes early, so I tried to go over some practice problems with Miyako.

"Okay, negative two plus positive three is what?" I asked.

"Positive one!" Miyako responded.

"Right. Now, if I needed three whole pineapples for dinner, and each one cost 385 yen, how much money would I need?" I asked again.

"1155 yen," Miyako replied. We carried on like this with another twenty questions before I saw that the clock said it was time for class.

"Alright class, time for the math final," Pakkamlamao-sensei said as she walked into the classroom.

I got ready for the test, and closed my eyes as I took a deep breath to calm any nerves I might have had.

_X+911-2+3-1 What is X?_ The twenty-third question asked. I looked over the multiple-choice questions and bubbled in choice C, two.

I did about fifteen more of these before I finally finished the test.

I then laid my head down on my desk, as this is what we were instructed to do after we finished our tests, and waited for the bell to ring.

I only waited for about five minutes before we were dismissed to lunch.

"That wasn't so bad!" I said with a smile to Chiaki.

"Speak for yourself!" Miyako replied.

"Oh no. If Miyako fails a subject, she's not allowed to catch Jeanne or Sinbad for the whole summer. Depressing, isn't it?" I asked Chiaki with a mischievous smile.

"Oh really?" He asked, looking at the purple-haired girl.

"I'm not gonna fail! Don't get excited!" Miyako responded.

"Yeah, we're not that lucky," Chiaki replied with a fake-sigh.

"I know," I responded back in a disappointed voice.

"You two…" Miyako began, irritated.

"Are we going to sit here and talk, or go get lunch?" Chiaki asked.

"I'm gonna go get lunch," I replied.

"I'm gonna go sulk," Miyako stated.

"Aww, it won't be **that** bad, Miyako. Don't worry!" I said as I pulled her along with me.

"Look, today we're having lasagna!" I said as I examined our school menu.

"Really? I love Italian!" Chiaki responded excitedly.

"You can tell who went to a fancy school most of his life, can't you?" I asked Miyako.

"No joke," Miyako replied.

"What's that suppose to mean?" Chiaki snapped as he stood in line in front of Miyako and me.

"Nothing, nothing," I replied.

"Yeah right. 'Nothing,' huh?" Chiaki asked.

"Yep, absolutely nothing!" I replied with an innocent smile.

Chiaki just rolled his eyes as I got myself some of the lasagna.

"Ah, two days and no demon reports yet! It's been **so** nice!" I said as we walked over to our usual table.

"It's suspicious, especially after they were attacking every day for five days in a row," Chiaki replied.

"You worry too much! They just gave up!" I responded airily.

"Need I remind you that if I worried less, you would either be in jail or dead by now?" Chiaki asked arrogantly.

"Yes, **Sinny**," I responded, saying the last part just loud enough for him to hear it.

"You're as bad as Access, Maron," Chiaki said while eating some of his lasagna.

"Actually, I thought of another nickname I like even more than 'Sinny' that I haven't used yet!" I responded with a slightly evil smile.

Chiaki's eyes nearly popped out of his head at the mention of another nickname.

"Do you enjoy torturing me?" Chiaki asked suspiciously.

"More than you can imagine," I responded, my evil smile still present.

"I seriously doubt that," Chiaki challenged.

"Oh really? If you say so, 'Sin**-chan**'," I replied, looking at his face for a reaction.

Chiaki nearly dropped his fork at my new nickname. Miyako had to stifle a laugh, and I looked at him confidently.

"You play dirty," Chiaki responded with his head down towards his plate.

"Not half as dirty you do. Unlike a certain kaitou, I don't hide until I can knock the rival's pin, which is already in motion, out of the way so that I can checkmate," I replied.

"I should start doing that again instead of rescuing you," he replied back.

"You like me too much to let me become demon-food," I said with a small challenge in my voice.

"I don't know anymore," Chiaki joked.

"So I can date Iinchou then?" I asked, playing along.

"Nope," Chiaki responded.

"Speaking of Iinchou… Anyone know how he's doing?" Miyako asked.

"I haven't heard of anything," I responded.

"I'll go visit him after school's over then," Miyako said.

"Oh, I'll go too," I said.

"Well, I don't mind regular Iinchou," Chiaki said with a smile.

Soon afterwards, it was time to head back to class.

Pakkamlamao-sensei continued her lecture until five minutes before class was over. She then said, "We only have two days of school left until summer. Be sure to come to school for both of those days. Understand?"

At this, all of the students nodded. After that, the bell ran for the final time that day.

I stood up and gathered my things while saying, "No homework today!"

"Yep, only the people who have to take the make-up tests tomorrow have homework," Chiaki added.

"Shut up," Miyako snapped back.

_Well, someone didn't pass_. I thought, then asked out loud, "Ready to go see Iinchou?"

"Yeah," Chiaki agreed.

"What hospital is he in? Do we know?" Miyako asked.

"Probably at Nagoya," I replied.

"Probably so, seeing as that's the best qualified hospital around here," Chiaki agreed.

"Are we ready now?" I asked.

Miyako and Chiaki nodded and we walked out of the school together.

Once we arrived at Nagoya Hospital, Chiaki was greeted with a, "Hello, Chiaki-sama," from basically every doctor and nurse present.

He just nodded and motioned for us to stay at the door.

I overheard Chiaki talking to the nurse at the counter.

"Oh Chiaki-sama! What can I do for you?" A young nurse asked.

"One of my friends is here. His name is Minazuki Yamato. Can you tell me what room he's in?" Chiaki asked. He waited as she began checking a long list of names for the one Chiaki requested.

"Room 114, Chiaki-sama," The nurse replied, while looking dreamily at Chiaki.

"Thanks," he said as he walked back over to us.

I saw the nurse looking at Chiaki with that flirty smile still on her face, so I held his hand. He looked at me strangely, but didn't say anything as he saw what I was looking at.

"Is Maron worried?" He asked in a teasing voice.

"I don't trust that girl," I responded.

"Uh-huhhh," Chiaki replied with a smirk.

Miyako then asked, "What's going on?" Apparently, she had been too busy staring at the attractive doctors to notice anything strange.

"That girl was trying to hit on Chiaki. He's playing it off as a joke, but let's just say that if I ever catch him with another girl…" I began as I glared hard at Chiaki, who gulped under my gaze.

"T-The room is 114," Chiaki stammered.

We then walked down the hallway until we reached the correct room. Before we entered, I knocked on the room.

"Come in!" I heard a male voice yell.

I walked into the room with Chiaki and Miyako following in behind me.

Iinchou didn't actually look as beat up as Chiaki had made it sound like.

"Kusababe-san! Nagoya-kun! Todaiji-san! What a surprise!" Iinchou said.

"How are you feeling?" I asked.

"Oh, I'm a lot better! I just have no clue how my rib cage was broken though," Iinchou replied, embarrassed.

"I see," I replied, as if I didn't know what had happened either.

"Anyway, what's been going on at school?" Iinchou asked.

"Well, today we had our math final," Chiaki said.

"—But nothing too big has been going on. It's the last week of school, so all tests are now done," I added.

"Except for make-up tests," Miyako grumbled.

"Yeah. I think we're having a party-type thing on Friday too," I announced.

"Oh, that should be fun, Kusababe-san," Iinchou said.

Just then, we heard a knock at the door, to which Iinchou yelled for the second time that day, "Come in!"

"Oh, Chiaki-kun! You've come to pay your poor father a visit!" Nagoya-kun said happily.

"Go away, old man," Chiaki said with a sigh.

"Aw, that's not nice! Oh, Maron-chan's here too!" Nagoya-kun said.

"Yeah, we're visiting our friend here," I explained.

"Well, I knew he attended Chiaki-kun's school, but now that I know you're friends, I'll have to work extra hard!" Nagoya-kun said brightly.

"Hey Maron, Miyako, we need to go," Chiaki said suddenly.

"I suppose so. Bye Iinchou, Nagoya-kun!" I called out as Chiaki grabbed my wrist with one hand and Miyako's with his other, out the door.

"What was that about?" Miyako asked, surprised.

"He doesn't want his father to embarrass him," I explained.

"That stupid old man doesn't know when to keep his mouth shut," Chiaki replied.

"Hey! I like your father!" I argued back.

"Come on, let's go," Chiaki responded, ignoring me as he pulled us out of the hospital doorway.

We soon arrived back at the apartment.

"Wow, it's 7:30 already!" I exclaimed.

"Yeah. So what are you cooking tonight?" Chiaki asked.

"I'm having pizza," I responded as I stepped onto the elevator with Miyako and him.

"I guess I'll eat by myself then," Chiaki said with a sigh.

"Good idea," I responded.

* * *

Miyako had already entered her apartment, and as I began to walk into mine, Chiaki suddenly stopped me and asked, "How's your throat, Maron?"

"It's better now," I replied.

Chiaki then walked over and hugged me from behind. "Don't you ever put me through that again, okay? I was **really** worried," he whispered into my ear.

"I'll try not to," I responded back as I moved my face in the direction of his voice.

When I moved my head, I felt Chiaki's nose against mine.

Slowly, our faces closed the distance between us as our lips softly met. We kissed for a moment before I said, "Thanks for taking care of me yesterday, no matter how stubborn I was."

"No problem," He replied as we slowly kissed again.

After we finished the second kiss, we both said goodnight and parted ways to continue the rest of the night like we normally did. I ordered pizza, ate, and then got in the shower.

The rest of the night went by peacefully. I remembered our kisses outside my door and blushed slightly, even as I laid down in my bed half-asleep.

* * *

So sorry for the chapter being a day late. And on top of that, the chapter wasn't as long as I wanted... Sorry! Sorry! So so sorry!

You guys are gonna hate this piece of info even more though: I will probably **not** update this next coming up Sun/Mon. I'm starting school today (Monday), so I wanna have a week to settle down and get aquatinted, seeing as it's a new school.

I promise that it won't be longer than I week though! And than you so much for all the reviews, it makes me so happy that other people like my story!

(And if I have time, I might still post a chapter this week. I just seriously doubt it…)

Til next time, nya!

Mew Mew Ssomsie


	8. Line of Hope

**Title: **Eternal Wind  
**Series:** Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne  
**Rating:** T  
**By:** MewSsomsie  
**Beta-ed By:** Argent-Allure

**Summary: **"Even after Maron helped Fin, her battles weren't over yet. The 'Final Battle at the Ice Castle' was only the beginning. The demons that were still on Earth are now coming after Maron with everything they've got. Maron must now be stronger than ever, or else everything she does will be in vain, and everyone she loves will be in danger."

**AN:** **I will be updating this story weekly (Every Monday / or close to it) .**

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne. If I did, there would be a whole lot more than 44 episodes! I'm talking 100 or so! Sadly, I don't own a thing… :(  
**Chapter:** 8 –Line of Hope-

* * *

I woke up earlier than usual because I had went to bed a few minutes earlier the night before.

_It's Thursday. Only one day of school left after today. _I thought with a smile.

I sighed and got up to repeat my morning routine once again. I was nearly finished getting ready when I saw Fin slowly fly up to me.

"Are you okay, Fin?" I asked.

"Maron. Access and I were getting suspicious of all these demon attacks, so we went to ask for information," Fin responded with her face down.

"And?" I asked. I had been wondering about the same thing.

"And apparently the demons we're dealing with are the last ones, but they combine with each other to become stronger," Fin finished.

"So, the demons we've been 'checkmating' have actually been more than one demon?" I asked slowly.

Fin nodded in agreement.

"But if we're having this many problems with just a few combined, what if they combined together to the point where we couldn't touch them?" I asked with fear.

"Maron! You're the reincarnation of Jeanne d'Arc! You can do anything!" Fin responded encouragingly.

"I hope you're right…" I responded uneasily.

I then finished getting ready and walked to the kitchen.

As I was finishing my breakfast, Miyako started her game of breaking my door down.

I opened the door and said, "When you break my door, **you're** buying me a new one!"

"It took you long enough today!" Miyako argued back.

"Yes, yes," I responded with a sigh.

The three of us, which included Chiaki -who had come running out of his apartment when he heard Miyako kill my door again-; Miyako, the door- killer; and me all walked to the school.

"Hey Chiaki, did you talk to Access this morning?" I asked.

"Not about anything in particular, why?" Chiaki asked.

"Never mind," I replied.

_I don't want to worry Miyako._ I thought as I watched the sidewalk with newfound interest.

The rest of the walk was fairly quiet. Chiaki saw that I **did** want to talk to him about something, but he must have guessed that I didn't want to mention it in front of Miyako. Unfortunately, that left Miyako with no one to talk to as I was lost in thought looking at the pavement in front of me, while Chiaki was walking slightly ahead of the two of us.

Once we arrived at school, Miyako walked into the classroom while Chiaki pulled me back from following her and asked, "Now, what did you want to talk about earlier?"

I looked down and told him. "Fin said that the demons would only get worse. Once they're gone, all of this is done. But until then…"

"Until then, it's gonna be rough, right?" Chiaki guessed.

I nodded weakly. Chiaki pulled me into a light hug and whispered some soft words into my ear. After that, he walked into class casually.

As I followed him into the classroom, I thought about what he had whispered to me before: _"We can do anything…as long as we're together. I'm going to protect you no matter what, Maron."_

Now inside the classroom, I noticed Chiaki making small talk with some of the other students.

"What was that about?" Miyako asked.

"What was what?" I asked as innocently as I could.

"What was Chiaki talking to you about?" Miyako asked again, impatient now.

"…Nothing important," I replied as I took out the books I needed for class.

"Yeah right. What was it, Maron?" Miyako pushed again.

"Nothing, okay?" I reassured as I started getting annoyed with the purple-haired girl standing in front of me.

"It **was** something!" Miyako tried again.

I then looked up at her and said very slowly, "It's…. **nothing that you need to be concerned about**."

"Fine," Miyako agreed.

"Alright class. Only one more day after today," Pakkamlamao-sensei said as she walked into class.

We all settled down into our seats and started taking notes.

_Why are we even taking notes? There won't be any more tests today or tomorrow anyway_. I thought glumly.

"Attention! All students and teachers! We have been sent a notice that Kaitou Jeanne is going to blow up the school! Please evacuate!" the person on the intercom said.

I looked at Chiaki in distress.

"From that look, I'd say that we have work to do?" Chiaki asked with a sigh.

"You think? Granted, school isn't my favorite place, but I wouldn't go **that** far," I whispered back.

As soon as everyone was running out of the building, and after we had blended into the crowd, Chiaki and I stopped running.

We had almost escaped unnoticed when Miyako saw us turn around and run in the other direction.

"What are you two doing? Did you not hear! We are evacuating because of a bomb—," Miyako was saying until she was interrupted by Chiaki.

"That wasn't sent by 'Kaitou Jeanne'," he said flatly.

"What do you mean?" Miyako asked, confused.

" **I** didn't send a notice, and Fin's learned her lesson about sending notices without my consent. It's a fake threat by the demons to lure Jeanne out. And guess what, it's working," I responded as I glared at the dark hallways in front of me.

"Go on back, Miyako. I don't know how safe it's gonna be!" I yelled as I ran down the halls to the place where the Petit Claire was ringing loudest.

As soon as I saw that Miyako wasn't following me close behind, I said my words of strength, which helped me to transform:

_"Strong and serious…._

_Matchless and marvelous…_

_Energetic and courageous!"_

When my feet touched the ground after the transformation, I was Jeanne again.

I then started running when I heard someone calling me. "Maron! Where are you?" Miyako called.

"Why doesn't she listen?" I asked myself in annoyance.

I ran back to Miyako and saw that Chiaki, who was still Chiaki, was beside her.

"Are they coming back this way?" Chiaki asked.

"No, but I don't want this idiot getting hurt," I replied as I started back the way I came. Only this time, I was walking.

"Hey! Who are you calling an 'idiot'?" Miyako asked angrily.

"Right now, we can't joke around, okay?" I replied as I followed the increasing beeps coming from the Petit Claire.

I then heard a bang come from some area ahead of me. The Petit Claire was beeping as fast as it could.

"The demon's here," I said quietly.

The lights then popped on around us.

"Wel-comee Jeeannne! This show is s-sure to be a t-tt-thriller," a demonic voice said cackling.

I saw ten demons begin to surround us.

"You ready?" I asked Chiaki.

"Oughta be fun," Chiaki, still as Chiaki, replied.

"Always is!" I responded as I took the preemptive strike and killed off one of the demons.

Chiaki formed twenty pins in his hands and shot them at a demon, yelling "Checkmate!" afterwards.

"Two done, eight to go," I replied as I was back to back with Chiaki. Miyako was hiding in a corner, out of view.

"Already one-fifth of the way there!" Chiaki replied as we both jumped out of the way of a demon attack.

I was about to attack a demon in front of me when Chiaki yelled, "Look out!"

Chiaki then threw his boomerang through a demon that was heading towards my back. This successfully killed the demon.

I positioned my back against his again as I arrogantly said, "I'm not going to thank you."

"Wouldn't dream of it," he replied back confidently.

I dodged around another tentacle that was flying at me and "checkmated" that demon.

A few minutes later, between Chiaki and me, we had just knocked eight of the ten demons out.

Then the real problems began: The two remaining demons combined into one.

The two demons—now combined as one—sent a laser at me. I closed my eyes in anticipation of the attack, but the pain never came. Instead, I felt Chiaki lay his head on my shoulder as he gasped in pain.

"Chiaki!" I yelled.

"I'm… going to… protect you," he responded.

I laid him down gently and stood up.

"Now, demon, you're dead!" I yelled as I said the words needed to "checkmate" the demon:

"_In the name of God!_

_You, a demon born in the dark…_

_I seal you here…_

_Checkmate!"_

The demon writhed in pain as it disappeared.

Afterwards, I pulled the ribbon out of my hair, successfully turning back into Maron again.

"Are you okay?" I asked as I ran to Chiaki.

"I'll be fine," Chiaki mumbled as he tried to sit up.

Miyako came out of her hiding spot as I helped Chiaki up.

Chiaki's uniform was slightly torn, but he didn't look like he was in too bad a shape.

"You're gonna get yourself killed one day because of me," I said as I laid my head on his chest.

"If I'm gonna die, that sounds like a good way to do it," Chiaki replied softly.

"I'm not gonna let you take the easy way out, buddy," I replied in a soft voice similar to the one that Chiaki had just used.

"And I was hoping I could," Chiaki replied sarcastically.

"No such luck," I replied back.

I finished helping him up, and then we sneaked back outside to where the rest of the student body was.

As soon as we were back in line, and we were sure that no one had noticed our absence, all three of us let out a sigh of relief.

"Attention! All students are dismissed for the day!" the principal called.

Miyako, Chiaki, and I then walked home together. Chiaki had to lean on me for a little support when we were going up hills, but he seemed to be either tuning the pain out, or recovering already.

When we arrived at the apartment complex, I went to check my mailbox. I had a little bit of junk mail, but other than that, there was nothing of interest in the mailbox.

We then went up the elevator, and I took Chiaki to my couch so that I could "play doctor" with him.

"This is revenge for the other day," I said mischievously.

I then took peroxide and poured some of it into the little white cap. After that, I took a cotton ball and soaked it in the substance.

Chiaki gasped a little bit when I put the cotton ball on one of his cuts.

_I guess it __**does**__ hurt. His whole back is basically white from the peroxide._ I thought.

After that, I started applying an ointment.

Once that was finished, I went and changed out of my school uniform. I wasn't worried about Chiaki opening the door on me because he was already half-unconscious due to the pain from the peroxide.

I came back in a pair of shorts and a loose t-shirt.

Chiaki was already asleep due to the pain, and I decided that a nap wouldn't be too bad of an idea. On the couch opposite of Chiaki, I laid myself down and fell asleep.

* * *

"Maron!" I heard a voice call as I was awoken from my slumber.

"What?" I asked as I rubbed my eyes.

"It five o'clock! What are we having for dinner?" Chiaki asked.

"Left…overs…" I replied as I turned over to go back to sleep.

"It's time to get up!" Chiaki argued as he pushed my back a little.

"Yes, sleep does sound good. I agree," I replied.

Chiaki then pushed me off the couch. Luckily, my hands prevented me from hitting my head on the floor. I then glared at the smirking blue-haired boy in front of me.

"You're mean," I replied as I stood up.

"I just want you to be able to sleep tonight. That's all," Chiaki replied with an "innocent" smile.

"Yeah right. You just wanna eat," I replied as I walked over to the refrigerator and took out the leftover pizza from the night before.

I then started heating it up in the microwave.

"Where are Access and Fin?" I asked Chiaki.

"Off looking for more demons," Chiaki replied.

I sighed, and then got out two cups.

"What do you want to drink?" I asked the only other person in the room.

"Coke," Chiaki replied as he stood up and started walking over to where I was.

I then poured two cups of coke for Chiaki and myself. As soon as the drinks were set down on the table, the timer signaling the pizza was done, rang.

I set the pizza down, and Chiaki and I had a little bit of small talk.

"Tomorrow's the last day of school before summer vacation! It's exciting!" I commented.

"Yep," Chiaki replied.

Soon after, we cleaned up our finished meals.

"You rest up, okay?" I asked as I opened my door so Chiaki could walk out into the hallway.

"Yes, mom," Chiaki replied playfully as he opened his own apartment door.

I rolled my eyes at his comment. I then returned to my own apartment as I started getting ready for the next day.

Once I was finally in bed, I thought excitedly, "After tomorrow, I get two whole months away from school!"

After some effort on my part, I finally calmed down enough to fall asleep.

* * *

AN: Hope everyone enjoyed this chapter. Updates are now going to be made on Monday instead of Sunday. This gives me more time to write, since my school work makes it almost impossible to write during the week. The chapters are also going to be staying around this length or shorter, since I don't have as much time per chapter.

Thanks for all of your wonderful reviews!

Mew Mew Ssomsie


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